In addition to having some product photographs, I also compare them to a previous set that I reviewed. I think both sets are nice but there are definite differences between the two.
Showing posts with label KBShimmer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label KBShimmer. Show all posts
20 September 2014
Born Pretty Store Review: Iridescent Acrylic Rhinestones
Hi everyone! I received some new products as a gift from the Born Pretty Store (sort of a thank you present from my rep), including a set of clear acrylic rhinestones. I ended up using them for some simple nail art, so I thought I'd do a review for you!
In addition to having some product photographs, I also compare them to a previous set that I reviewed. I think both sets are nice but there are definite differences between the two.
In addition to having some product photographs, I also compare them to a previous set that I reviewed. I think both sets are nice but there are definite differences between the two.
17 September 2014
KBShimmer Fall 2014: Flannel Surfing, How You Dune?, and Kiss and Spell
Hi everyone! KBShimmer released their latest collection on Monday, and in case you're still debating what to get, I have some swatches that might help. I look forward to seeing what they will come out with each season, and this collection has been particularly strong. Luckily, Harlow & Co. sent me some to review, so read on to hear my thoughts on these!
25 December 2013
Girly Bits Get Weaponized and Merry Christmas!
Hi everyone! Merry Christmas if you celebrate, and if you don't, I hope you had a relaxing day of movies and Chinese food! It seems odd to be wearing a polish with such an aggressive name for my Xmas mani, but I couldn't have asked for something more perfect, or gorgeous. It also was the ideal base for some snowflakes so make sure to check out the full post.
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| Girly Bits Get Weaponized |
12 August 2013
KBShimmer You Drive Me Katie, A Harlow & Co. Exclusive
Hi everyone! Happy Monday! Just a reminder for international (i.e. non-US) KBShimmer fans that Harlow & Co. is having a 20% off sale on all KBShimmer products to celebrate KBShimmer's 5th anniversary, along with having the 5th anniversary duo for sale. If you haven't gotten your fix yet, what are you waiting for!? ;)
This is a short post to show you a great polish that is exclusive to Harlow & Co. I've been seeing more and more of these distributor-exclusive polishes - where an indie maker comes up with a unique polish for one of their distributors - and I rather like the trend. It's interesting to see what the indie makers create for a particular shop. You Drive Me Katie is the KBShimmer exclusive for Harlow & Co. and it's worth adding to your cart if you're a KBShimmer fan!
You Drive Me Katie is a bright bubblegum pink crelly with teal, purple, and white hex and square glitter in different sizes. I used three coats here, and like all KBShimmer polishes I've tried, the application was perfect. It goes on very smooth and is completely self-leveling. I did find it a bit of a challenge to get the larger glitters out. Otherwise, there was no issues with this polish.
I love how fun and bright this polish is! It's such a mood lifting polish despite the name, lol! The glitter is not as dense as some other crellys, however, I really like that. Too much glitter and you end up with really lumpy polish - definitely not fun!
What do you think of this? And tell me, have you taken advantage of the KBShimmer sales going on? If so, what did you get?
KBShimmer is available through their website (US only) and Harlow & Co. (international). This polish is only available through Harlow & Co.
*Product was provided as a gift, all opinions are my own. See my disclosure policy for more details.*
This is a short post to show you a great polish that is exclusive to Harlow & Co. I've been seeing more and more of these distributor-exclusive polishes - where an indie maker comes up with a unique polish for one of their distributors - and I rather like the trend. It's interesting to see what the indie makers create for a particular shop. You Drive Me Katie is the KBShimmer exclusive for Harlow & Co. and it's worth adding to your cart if you're a KBShimmer fan!
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| KBShimmer You Drive Me Katie |
You Drive Me Katie is a bright bubblegum pink crelly with teal, purple, and white hex and square glitter in different sizes. I used three coats here, and like all KBShimmer polishes I've tried, the application was perfect. It goes on very smooth and is completely self-leveling. I did find it a bit of a challenge to get the larger glitters out. Otherwise, there was no issues with this polish.
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| KBShimmer You Drive Me Katie |
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| KBShimmer You Drive Me Katie |
I love how fun and bright this polish is! It's such a mood lifting polish despite the name, lol! The glitter is not as dense as some other crellys, however, I really like that. Too much glitter and you end up with really lumpy polish - definitely not fun!
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| KBShimmer You Drive Me Katie |
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| KBShimmer You Drive Me Katie |
What do you think of this? And tell me, have you taken advantage of the KBShimmer sales going on? If so, what did you get?
KBShimmer is available through their website (US only) and Harlow & Co. (international). This polish is only available through Harlow & Co.
*Product was provided as a gift, all opinions are my own. See my disclosure policy for more details.*
01 June 2013
KBShimmer Summer 2013 Collection - 24 Carrot Bold, Pimp My Pride, and Totally Tubular
Hi everyone! Is anyone out there excited about the release of the new KBShimmer collection tomorrow?! Katie from Harlow & Co. sent me a few of the polishes to swatch and review in anticipation for tomorrow's launch, so I rushed to get these on the blog! I always love to see what KBShimmer comes out with, the polishes are always gorgeous and colourful, and the quality is always top notch. And the new summer collection doesn't disappoint!
I was also sent the new Clearly On Top quick dry top coat to try out. I will do a more complete review in the future when I've had a chance to test it over a longer period, but I did use it with two of these polishes, so I'll offer my thoughts on that at the end of this post.
24 Carrot Bold is a bright neon orange, very much like a traffic cone orange, with beautiful golden shimmer that is noticeable on the nails. And it has a matte finish! It's not the most flattering colour on me, but it's a very fun colour for summer.
The formula was great - it went on very smooth and was perfectly self-leveling. It also dried very fast, although I'd say you still have to be careful even after 20-25 minutes. I find with matte polishes that the formula and dry time are even more important since you don't have the top coat to rely on. Here I used three coats, but there's still some visible nail line, so if that bothers you, you might want to try layering it over a matching polish, or even white - which would make the colour pop! And no top coat on these swatches.
Pimp My Pride is a white crelly with red and blue glitter. There's tiny, small and medium hexes, and hair (mini bars, micro slices, or whatever you call them) glitter. It's definitely a very "Americana" polish, and I'm not sure how popular it will be with international customers, unless you like red, white, and blue colour combos.
The formula was excellent, and there was good glitter payoff, although I did do a little bit of shaking to make sure I got plenty of glitter on my brush. It went on very smooth and leveled perfectly. This is three coats and there's still some VNL, so my only criticism is that I wish it was less sheer. I topped this off with KBShimmer Clearly On Top.
Totally Tubular is a teal blue crelly with fuchsia and aqua circles and hexes, fuchsia hair glitter, and sapphire blue hexes. This is my favourite of the three, no surprise since I love blue, but I also love the bright colours. A word of warning though - most of the promotional images and swatches I've seen of this polish make it look lighter than it actually is. It's not a light teal blue. It's more of a mid-value teal blue, very close in value to Don't Teal Anyone. Totally Tubular is slightly brighter in hue than DTA, and of course has a different mixture of glitter. I just feel like the promotional images give the wrong impression of the polish. But don't get me wrong, it's still an awesome colour!
This is three coats plus KBShimmer Clearly On Top. Like Pimp My Pride it goes on really smooth, and it's easy to get enough glitter including the larger circles. However, I did shake it gently before applying.
Clearly On Top - I'm an ardent Seche Vite fan and I'm really picky about using another top coat. In my life I think I've tried two other top coats (Revlon and China Glaze), and I was not sure what to expect with this one. So my initial impression of Clearly On Top... so far so good! It dries to the touch within about 5 minutes, however, it can be dented after 15-20 minutes (Seche Vite is the same). It's very glossy, not too thick, no issues with shrinkage, and it's the big 3-Free. Finally, the price is good. If you buy top coat by the bottle, Clearly On Top is comparable and even cheaper than Seche Vite. I'm still curious to see how it works over the long run, and I'd like to try it with nail art, so I will report back with a follow-up.
KBShimmer is available for US customers through their website, and through Harlow & Co. for international (non-US) customers. Follow both Harlow & Co. and KBShimmer on Facebook for updates.
What do you think of these new polishes from KBShimmer? Are you planning to get anything when the collection is released tomorrow?
*Polishes provided for review, all opinions are my own. See my disclosure policy for more details.*
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| KBShimmer Totally Tubular, Pimp My Pride, and 24 Carrot Bold |
I was also sent the new Clearly On Top quick dry top coat to try out. I will do a more complete review in the future when I've had a chance to test it over a longer period, but I did use it with two of these polishes, so I'll offer my thoughts on that at the end of this post.
24 Carrot Bold is a bright neon orange, very much like a traffic cone orange, with beautiful golden shimmer that is noticeable on the nails. And it has a matte finish! It's not the most flattering colour on me, but it's a very fun colour for summer.
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| KBShimmer 24 Carrot Bold |
The formula was great - it went on very smooth and was perfectly self-leveling. It also dried very fast, although I'd say you still have to be careful even after 20-25 minutes. I find with matte polishes that the formula and dry time are even more important since you don't have the top coat to rely on. Here I used three coats, but there's still some visible nail line, so if that bothers you, you might want to try layering it over a matching polish, or even white - which would make the colour pop! And no top coat on these swatches.
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| KBShimmer 24 Carrot Bold |
Pimp My Pride is a white crelly with red and blue glitter. There's tiny, small and medium hexes, and hair (mini bars, micro slices, or whatever you call them) glitter. It's definitely a very "Americana" polish, and I'm not sure how popular it will be with international customers, unless you like red, white, and blue colour combos.
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| KBShimmer Pimp My Pride |
The formula was excellent, and there was good glitter payoff, although I did do a little bit of shaking to make sure I got plenty of glitter on my brush. It went on very smooth and leveled perfectly. This is three coats and there's still some VNL, so my only criticism is that I wish it was less sheer. I topped this off with KBShimmer Clearly On Top.
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| KBShimmer Pimp My Pride |
Totally Tubular is a teal blue crelly with fuchsia and aqua circles and hexes, fuchsia hair glitter, and sapphire blue hexes. This is my favourite of the three, no surprise since I love blue, but I also love the bright colours. A word of warning though - most of the promotional images and swatches I've seen of this polish make it look lighter than it actually is. It's not a light teal blue. It's more of a mid-value teal blue, very close in value to Don't Teal Anyone. Totally Tubular is slightly brighter in hue than DTA, and of course has a different mixture of glitter. I just feel like the promotional images give the wrong impression of the polish. But don't get me wrong, it's still an awesome colour!
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| KBShimmer Totally Tubular |
This is three coats plus KBShimmer Clearly On Top. Like Pimp My Pride it goes on really smooth, and it's easy to get enough glitter including the larger circles. However, I did shake it gently before applying.
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| KBShimmer Totally Tubular |
Clearly On Top - I'm an ardent Seche Vite fan and I'm really picky about using another top coat. In my life I think I've tried two other top coats (Revlon and China Glaze), and I was not sure what to expect with this one. So my initial impression of Clearly On Top... so far so good! It dries to the touch within about 5 minutes, however, it can be dented after 15-20 minutes (Seche Vite is the same). It's very glossy, not too thick, no issues with shrinkage, and it's the big 3-Free. Finally, the price is good. If you buy top coat by the bottle, Clearly On Top is comparable and even cheaper than Seche Vite. I'm still curious to see how it works over the long run, and I'd like to try it with nail art, so I will report back with a follow-up.
KBShimmer is available for US customers through their website, and through Harlow & Co. for international (non-US) customers. Follow both Harlow & Co. and KBShimmer on Facebook for updates.
What do you think of these new polishes from KBShimmer? Are you planning to get anything when the collection is released tomorrow?
*Polishes provided for review, all opinions are my own. See my disclosure policy for more details.*
13 March 2013
Pastel Springtime Skittle Manicure
Hi everyone! It's been a while since I've done any nail art. Last night I was really missing it, so I ended up doing this design. Of course I paid with lack of sleep but I love having something fun on my nails again. I mean something besides a straightforward polish.
I've been looking at a lot of nail art on Instagram, but one of my most recent nail art crushes is @superflynails who runs Sparkle San Francisco, a nail art and tanning salon in (of course!) San Francisco. Some of her designs are simple, others are more complicated, but I love the aesthetic sensibility she brings to what she does. I wouldn't say that this design came from her, but I was looking at her nail art before I did this. The idea of doing little squares (middle finger) came from her, and so did the half and half with studs on my index finger.
I started with a base of OPI My Vampire is Buff and You're Such a BudaPest. On my pinky I have KBShimmer Squared Away. On my ring finger I did a brushstroke design with Essie Nothing Else Metals, Penny Talk, and Blue Rhapsody (all from the Mirror Metallics collection). On my middle finger I painted little squares with You're Such a Budapest, Suzi's Hungary Again, and Can't Find My Czechbook. I added a bit of Different Dimension That is So Fetch! to the tip. On my thumb I have Squared Away but just as a gradient. The studs are from the Born Pretty Store.
My other hand is pretty much the same, although I did not do the little square design. I very much love how this turned out, and I got a lot of complements on it today. :)
What do you think of this? Don't forget about my coupon code (MSL91) for 10% off your order from the Born Pretty Store.
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| Pastel springtime skittle mani |
I've been looking at a lot of nail art on Instagram, but one of my most recent nail art crushes is @superflynails who runs Sparkle San Francisco, a nail art and tanning salon in (of course!) San Francisco. Some of her designs are simple, others are more complicated, but I love the aesthetic sensibility she brings to what she does. I wouldn't say that this design came from her, but I was looking at her nail art before I did this. The idea of doing little squares (middle finger) came from her, and so did the half and half with studs on my index finger.
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| Pastel springtime skittle mani |
I started with a base of OPI My Vampire is Buff and You're Such a BudaPest. On my pinky I have KBShimmer Squared Away. On my ring finger I did a brushstroke design with Essie Nothing Else Metals, Penny Talk, and Blue Rhapsody (all from the Mirror Metallics collection). On my middle finger I painted little squares with You're Such a Budapest, Suzi's Hungary Again, and Can't Find My Czechbook. I added a bit of Different Dimension That is So Fetch! to the tip. On my thumb I have Squared Away but just as a gradient. The studs are from the Born Pretty Store.
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| Pastel springtime skittle mani |
My other hand is pretty much the same, although I did not do the little square design. I very much love how this turned out, and I got a lot of complements on it today. :)
What do you think of this? Don't forget about my coupon code (MSL91) for 10% off your order from the Born Pretty Store.
18 January 2013
My NOTW: OPI Royal Rajah Ruby and KBShimmer We Three Blings
Hi everyone! My schedule this semester is such that I don't have a lot of time to do my nails during the week. Well, I should qualify that - I don't have time to do my nails and post on this blog. But since I'm used to changing my nails almost every day (or several times a day if I'm swatching), I tend to get bored wearing the same polish for more than a day.
So I find having something interesting on my nails helps to keep me from getting bored. Enter my NOTW (nail of the week). I've had this mani on my nails for the last four days, and it still captivates me.
The base colour is OPI Royal Rajah Ruby, a popular polish from the 2008 India collection. When I first heard about this beauty, I thought for sure it would be hard to find. But luckily my trusty Nail Polish Canada still carries it. RRR is a dark vampy brownish red with a vibrant wine red shimmer. Unfortunately some of the beauty you see in the bottle gets lost when you are wearing it, and on the nails the shimmer is very subtle. But I still appreciate it for being a classic OPI colour, and I'm glad it's in my collection. The application was perfect, this is two coats and it applied very smooth. It was difficult to clean up (as you can see from my photos), so I imagine that it's a bit staining.
On the tips I used a makeup sponge to apply KBShimmer We Three Blings. This is from the recent holiday collection, and it's an absolute stunner! Out of the few gold glitter toppers I own, this is by far my favourite! It's a clear base packed with gold shimmer and both gold and gold holo glitter in different sizes. I love the addition of gold holo glitter into the mix, and the shimmer and reflections from this polish are amazing. I could see this looking good over a lot of different polishes.
What do you think? Do you have either of these polishes? Do you get bored wearing the same polish/mani for more than a day?
So I find having something interesting on my nails helps to keep me from getting bored. Enter my NOTW (nail of the week). I've had this mani on my nails for the last four days, and it still captivates me.
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| Sponged glitter tips: OPI Royal Rajah Ruby and KBShimmer We Three Blings |
The base colour is OPI Royal Rajah Ruby, a popular polish from the 2008 India collection. When I first heard about this beauty, I thought for sure it would be hard to find. But luckily my trusty Nail Polish Canada still carries it. RRR is a dark vampy brownish red with a vibrant wine red shimmer. Unfortunately some of the beauty you see in the bottle gets lost when you are wearing it, and on the nails the shimmer is very subtle. But I still appreciate it for being a classic OPI colour, and I'm glad it's in my collection. The application was perfect, this is two coats and it applied very smooth. It was difficult to clean up (as you can see from my photos), so I imagine that it's a bit staining.
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| OPI Royal Rajah Ruby |
On the tips I used a makeup sponge to apply KBShimmer We Three Blings. This is from the recent holiday collection, and it's an absolute stunner! Out of the few gold glitter toppers I own, this is by far my favourite! It's a clear base packed with gold shimmer and both gold and gold holo glitter in different sizes. I love the addition of gold holo glitter into the mix, and the shimmer and reflections from this polish are amazing. I could see this looking good over a lot of different polishes.
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| Sponged glitter tips: OPI Royal Rajah Ruby and KBShimmer We Three Blings |
What do you think? Do you have either of these polishes? Do you get bored wearing the same polish/mani for more than a day?
09 January 2013
KBShimmer Don't Teal Anyone
Hi everyone! I'm going to try to keep this short, of course I typically say that and it doesn't work. Tuesdays I work late, and then I have to be up early in the morning for work on Wednesday. Not fun!
KBShimmer Don't Teal Anyone was on my wish list for what seemed like forever, at least for the last couple of months. For international customers (like myself) KBShimmer is sold through Harlow & Co. and they are so popular they often sell out fast. I missed a few restocks either because of timing or lack of funds, but I was able to get my hands on a few of them in one of the restocks several weeks ago.
Don't Teal Anyone is a vibrant teal crelly with large blue and gold hex glitter, and small and medium sized hex glitter in aqua, purple, and blue. There is also tiny micro bar glitter (I didn't know such a thing existed!), which I didn't realize until I applied it. But these micro bar glitters tend to drown in the polish base and aren't very visible in the final mani. I love the colour combinations on this one, it is a very fun and vibrant polish!
Application was excellent, and I am very happy with the formula of this polish. For some reason I didn't write it down when I did this swatch, but I'm pretty sure this is two coats. Like many indie glitter polishes, giving it a good shake will make sure it doesn't get too thick when you apply it. Luckily, I found this one to be very easy to apply and there was great glitter payoff.
I wanted this polish so bad for so many months, and I'm happy to say that it fulfilled my expectations with the beautiful colour, fun glitter, and great formula. Isn't it disappointing when you buy a polish you've been lemming, only to be upset by the colour, formula, and/or finish?!
What do you think? Do you like KBShimmer? And if you have a favourite KBShimmer, let me know in the comments, I might want to add a few more to my next order if they're in stock! ;)
KBShimmer is available through Harlow & Co., and KBShimmer (US only).
KBShimmer Don't Teal Anyone was on my wish list for what seemed like forever, at least for the last couple of months. For international customers (like myself) KBShimmer is sold through Harlow & Co. and they are so popular they often sell out fast. I missed a few restocks either because of timing or lack of funds, but I was able to get my hands on a few of them in one of the restocks several weeks ago.
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| KBShimmer Don't Teal Anyone |
Don't Teal Anyone is a vibrant teal crelly with large blue and gold hex glitter, and small and medium sized hex glitter in aqua, purple, and blue. There is also tiny micro bar glitter (I didn't know such a thing existed!), which I didn't realize until I applied it. But these micro bar glitters tend to drown in the polish base and aren't very visible in the final mani. I love the colour combinations on this one, it is a very fun and vibrant polish!
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| KBShimmer Don't Teal Anyone |
Application was excellent, and I am very happy with the formula of this polish. For some reason I didn't write it down when I did this swatch, but I'm pretty sure this is two coats. Like many indie glitter polishes, giving it a good shake will make sure it doesn't get too thick when you apply it. Luckily, I found this one to be very easy to apply and there was great glitter payoff.
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| KBShimmer Don't Teal Anyone |
I wanted this polish so bad for so many months, and I'm happy to say that it fulfilled my expectations with the beautiful colour, fun glitter, and great formula. Isn't it disappointing when you buy a polish you've been lemming, only to be upset by the colour, formula, and/or finish?!
What do you think? Do you like KBShimmer? And if you have a favourite KBShimmer, let me know in the comments, I might want to add a few more to my next order if they're in stock! ;)
KBShimmer is available through Harlow & Co., and KBShimmer (US only).
29 December 2012
Skittle Manicure with KBShimmer Band Geek
Happy weekend everyone! I've had a lot of ideas for future nail art designs floating through my head lately. But one thing that I keep coming back to is ways to incorporate indie polishes with nail art in an interesting manner. That's what I was trying to do with today's mani. Simply put, I started with the gorgeous KBShimmer Band Geek on my ring finger and used the colours in this polish as the basis for designs on my other nails. A skittle mani is one where all the nails are different but form a cohesive whole. In this case, I used the same colour palette for all nails to unify them.
KBShimmer Band Geek is a beautiful black crelly (in between a creme and a jelly) with silver, copper, and yellow gold glitter in various sizes. So for the other nails I also used various combinations of black, gold, copper, and silver (with a bit of white on my pinky).
Here's the polishes that I used for this mani:
KBShimmer Band Geek
Orly Liquid Vinyl (black creme)
Orly Luxe (gold foil)
Essie Penny Talk (copper metallic)
Sally Hansen White On (white creme)
Julep Vivien (pale gold glitter)
Stripe Rite in Black, Silver, and Gold
Starting with the thumb, I used Liquid Vinyl and freehanded gold zigzags with the Stripe Rite in gold. On my index finger I used a base of Liquid Vinyl and did a glitter gradient with Julep Vivien. On my middle finger, the mosaic design, I started with a base of White On. I originally was going to incorporate white into this nail but ended up covering it, still, the white was a good "blank page" to work on. I used the Stripe Rite in Black to draw the lines, then I filled them in with Penny Talk, Luxe, Liquid Vinyl, and Stripe Rite Silver (the silver appears white in some photos). I finished again with the Stripe Rite in Black, going over the outlines to make it cleaner. On my ring finger is KBShimmer on its own - this is three thin coats, no undies. And finally, on my pinky is a base of Liquid Vinyl and little crosses using White On and Stripe Rite in Silver. My thumb, middle, and pinky fingers were all done freehand.
I'm really in love with this mani. I love the colours and the aesthetic. And I'm really enjoying the skittle mani - it's a fun way to try out different ideas and designs without having to commit to all five nails. :)
So what do you think? Does this work as a skittle mani?
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| Skittle manicure with KBShimmer Band Geek |
KBShimmer Band Geek is a beautiful black crelly (in between a creme and a jelly) with silver, copper, and yellow gold glitter in various sizes. So for the other nails I also used various combinations of black, gold, copper, and silver (with a bit of white on my pinky).
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| Skittle manicure with KBShimmer Band Geek |
Here's the polishes that I used for this mani:
KBShimmer Band Geek
Orly Liquid Vinyl (black creme)
Orly Luxe (gold foil)
Essie Penny Talk (copper metallic)
Sally Hansen White On (white creme)
Julep Vivien (pale gold glitter)
Stripe Rite in Black, Silver, and Gold
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| Skittle manicure with KBShimmer Band Geek |
Starting with the thumb, I used Liquid Vinyl and freehanded gold zigzags with the Stripe Rite in gold. On my index finger I used a base of Liquid Vinyl and did a glitter gradient with Julep Vivien. On my middle finger, the mosaic design, I started with a base of White On. I originally was going to incorporate white into this nail but ended up covering it, still, the white was a good "blank page" to work on. I used the Stripe Rite in Black to draw the lines, then I filled them in with Penny Talk, Luxe, Liquid Vinyl, and Stripe Rite Silver (the silver appears white in some photos). I finished again with the Stripe Rite in Black, going over the outlines to make it cleaner. On my ring finger is KBShimmer on its own - this is three thin coats, no undies. And finally, on my pinky is a base of Liquid Vinyl and little crosses using White On and Stripe Rite in Silver. My thumb, middle, and pinky fingers were all done freehand.
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| My lonely thumb: skittle manicure with KBShimmer Band Geek |
I'm really in love with this mani. I love the colours and the aesthetic. And I'm really enjoying the skittle mani - it's a fun way to try out different ideas and designs without having to commit to all five nails. :)
So what do you think? Does this work as a skittle mani?
