Fancy Nail Lacquer by Rainbow Honey Fancy Black Swatch and Review

There are few times where I can be a show off and the time is usually rare... However... I just polished off and delivered 3 wedding/engagement sets in 2 days. Yep. Dirt. Shoulder. Off. Gettin' that dirt off the shoulder! Anyway so here I am, just about to start a few days of overtime but I am here. Kind of. I'm trying. I miss you guys. Today I haven "Fancy Nail Lacquer by Rainbow Honey" and really it's just Rainbow Honey polish, I am not going to beat around the bush or anything. I am not sure how this collaboration came about but my best guess is that Fancy contracted Rainbow Honey to produce some polish for them as a part of their distribution offerings. Again, not confirming that - it's just my best guess.



So already we're seeing some pretty signature stuff from Rainbow Honey. The signature well-packaged box. The well produced photograph, printed on high quality paper. Great graphic design, great package. Rainbow Honey event included one of their own branded cuticle sticks.









Pretty good stuff, am I right? So I am going to share Fancy Black first with you guys mostly because I just realized I rarely show off any reds so I might as well save that one for the end of the week! Fancy Nail Lacquer by Rainbow Honey Fancy Black is a shimmery black. Formula wise it was pretty good - it applied well and I got full opacity in two coats. The shimmer is just right - not too prominent and not too subtle. Here's my swatch in two coats with no top coat:















And as always for funsies, what does it look like with a glitter? Here's some Nubar White Polka Dots. I don't think they're the best pairing - I'll be honest but with a shimmery black like this, I would just leave it on its own:





So call me biased but I think it's kind of weird that it's a Rainbow Honey polish with a different name on it. I guess I am a little biased. OK, VERY biased. The thing with all these other distributors is that they just charge SO much for shipping to Canada. It's so hard to be a fan of that. I really don't care for these partnerships but again, I understand why indie companies would want to. Sometimes there's a lot of big fish in the sea and you've got to keep up!

As a die hard Rainbow Honey fan, I had to get them anyway. I asked my friend in the states to buy them all (because US customers get free or $5 shipping while it costs $40 to ship to Canada, yeah that makes sense) but I don't find Fancy Black to be particularly unique or a "must have". It's definitely a polish collector's item. It's great and pretty and I really like it but I just can't justify the actual cost if I didn't have my friend in the states to help ship them to me.

What do you think of Fancy Black? Does your favourite indie company work with any type of "subscription" based or selected consumer online catalogues? Which ones are your favourite? Are there any that don't charge a gargantuan fee when shipping to Canada?

NYC New York Color 152 Tudor City Teal Swatch and Review

Oh hey guys, it's Cheap Polish Tuesday-Well OK, it's not really but it's gotta be Tuesday SOMEWHERE in the world, right? Actually scratch that, I think Pacific Time is one of the last to hold onto the days. But let's pretend. I'm here after all so we might as well make the best of it. Today I have a polish from NYC New York Color. I picked this one up from Wal-Mart for a mere $1.50! Yeah man, that's even cheaper than the dollar store polish I found that one time! Let's move on.

This is NYC New York Color Tudor City Teal which reminds me of something but we'll get to that later. Tudor City is a dusty to the extreme mint teal creme. It reminds me of those vintage seafoam guitars, vintage seafoam dentist chairs. Vintage seafoam anything, really. Formula wise, it wasn't too shabby. It was definitely on the sheer side and it covered OK in two coats but a third was required for maximum opacity. Here's my swatch in two coats, with no top coat:









Not bad for a base creme! How does it do with some glitter swag? I put on one coat of Rainbow Honey Magic Cake to find out. (Oddly enough my Magic Cake mini is running low! I guess it's not that surprising though.):







Not shabby at all, am I right? Anyway what I was saying before... Doesn't this remind you of a little infamous polish called: Essie Turquoise and Caicos? It reminds me of the same type of dusty seafoam that I remember. I may have to do a comparison soon but off the top of my head - damn they look similar! Except one has a better formula!

What do you think of this polish? Worth $1.50 or what? Does it also remind you of a little infamous dusty seafoam colour as well?

Rainbow Honey Black Hole Nails Set Nail Art

So remember when I said life was moving quick? OK nail world. You're first to hear it. I haven't told any of my friends. I am in the works of doing my first destination wedding. The clients have my passport information so I assume it's moving forward but granted that it does.... I get to cross that off my list. I am both terrified and so, so, SO excited. But like, I said - I am the type to keep my cards close to my chest until it's official but it's in the works! If I don't say anything later, don't mention it to me because it means it didn't happen, hahaha... Ha... Ha.... Er.... ANYWAY. ANYWAY. ANYWAY... Nails.



A while ago, Rainbow Honey had another one of those FAB exclusive sets and I was lucky enough to get some of the leftover stock on their website. They were selling some really awesome galaxy inspired sets and a couple of nail art sets - this is one of them! This is the Black Hole Nails set! It comes with: five disposable nail art brushes, easy to follow instructions, and the following polishes: white, black, The God of Destiny, Space Dust and a top coat. The packaging was adorable and super photogenic, check it out:













I found the instructions very easy, and all the polishes applied wonderfully. The disposable nail art brushes were great! I just used one. But it makes me think - what makes a brush disposable and no good anymore? I just cleaned mine with nail polish remover and didn't throw it away. Any thoughts? Anyway, I could have done a better job and the black hole outline but overall, I am super happy with them and I'll definitely be doing these nails again! Check it out:







Seriously, I love it.

I had these when I was shooting a wedding and one of the bridesmaids asked, "I'm a nail technician, are you as well?". Yup, day made in the life of a lacquerista, am I right?

So what do you think of this kind of nail art? Now that the set is sold out, what polishes do you think you'd use from your collection to emulate this look? And seriously, what makes a nail art brush disposable? I'd love to know, haha!

OPI Fly Swatch and Review (Bonus: Hard Candy Black Tie Optional)

Hey guys! End of the week here for me in ye olde land of nails, but seriously it doesn't slow down. Hopefully all of you are keeping busy, or hey, if you're relaxing - colour me jealous! Yesterday I shared a swatch from OPI that I wasn't too happy about so today I'm sharing one I am totally all over.

Today I've got OPI Fly, which is from the Nicki Minaj collection from early 2012. Fly is a medium teal creme, which looks close to a DAVIDsTEA teal but not quite perfect! Formula and application wise, this one is flawless - a self levelling creme that goes on for full opacity in two coats. It finishes quite glossy on its own. Here's my swatch in two coats, sans top coat:









And for funsies, here's one of my favourite black and white glitter combinations - here's Hard Candy Black Tie Optional:











I totally love OPI Fly! I haven't seen it available as widely as before but I have spotted it on sale, and in some stores with quite the backstock. Do you dig Fly? Do you think that it suits Nicki Minaj's style?

OPI Moonraker Swatch and Review (Bonus: OPI Servin' Up Sparkle)

Are there any photographers here? My camera bag is totally breaking and my gear has outgrown its current Lowepro shell. I am sort of looking into getting a Billingham but it's a total investment. Ugh, I am freaking out. Also, I've added something new to the blog! I added some social media buttons to the right there! I am super fresh to Pinterest and Bloglovin', so comment below if you've got a blog for a follow! I haven't really had the change to use Pinterest or Bloglovin' just yet but I will definitely get around to it. It seems that Bloglovin' is a great alternative to Google Reader.

Anyway back to polish. Today I've got OPI Moonraker, which is from the 2012 Winter James Bond collection. It didn't receive the best reviews and has had a bad reputation for its inconsistent streaky frost finish. OPI Moonraker is a frosty pale blue that is reminiscent of a pale full moon. Application and formula wise, it's very thin and has a tendency to bulk up on non-flat coats. Moonranker finishes fairly streaky and frosty, but as it dries, it looks a little a smidge more even. Still not the best. Do you have flaws on your nails? Well, if you don't know if you do or not, Moonraker will reveal all. Here's OPI Moonraker in two and a half coats:









I hate the obvious dent on my index finger so I put a little bit of OPI Servin' Up Sparkle as a slight gradient:







I still didn't like it.

OPI Moonraker isn't the best polish. I think it's pretty bad considering OPI is viewed at as a high quality polish and that's not what I got from Moonraker. I think that's where the hate train came from.

Do you think Moonraker lived up to its bad reputation? Did any of you experience the streaky frost finish? Are there areny *good* frost finishes? Seems like it's a hard thing to accomplish these days.

Pure Ice Nail Polish Jail Bait Swatch and Review (Bonus: Hard Candy Black Tie Optional)

Hey guys welcome to Cheap Polish Tuesday where the polish is cheap and the points don't matter. Wait-what? Anyway, it's Cheap Polish Tuesday and today I'm taking a look at Pure Ice Nail Polish, which can be found at Wal-Mart for $1.97. I read that Revlon recently acquired Pure Ice, so this may be a part of their doing. According to their Facebook page, their polishes are all 3 Free.

So. Pure Ice Nail Polish Jail Bait. First off, what a horrible name. I don't even think it's funny? It's weird. It's actually sort of creepy. In fact, I tried to Google this polish to see if anyone else had given it a try and there were sparse results because Google was creeped out by the key word "jail bait". Needless to say, I am too! What the actual fuck, guys. What were you thinking? Anyway, Pure Ice Jail Bait is a cooled deepened lilac creme. Formula and application wise, it went on OK but I found the formula fairly thick. It had a longer drying time as well. It finished fairly nicely without a top coat, so at least it's got that. This could easily be a one coater, but I usually do two for good measure:











And for funsies, here's another polish that could fit right into the theme of Cheap Polish Tuesday - here's one coat of Hard Candy Black Tie Optional. (Sorry for the misapplication of that little bar glitter on my index, haha!):







Overall, this polish is what it's worth. I would probably use it for nail polish but nothing that involves full coverage of the nail. I am just not a fan of thicker formula.

What do you think of Pure Ice Nail Polish Jail Bait? Do you also think it's hilarious I am calling the nail polish by its full name rather than just "Jail Bait"? I mean, I don't want to be flagged for something bad, YA KNOW.