Jindie Nails Tried & True Revisited

Hi everyone! I've been meaning to post more often but I've been spending a lot of time restocking polishes for the shop. I've also been feeling very down lately, something I need to guard against, especially as the days get shorter. If you have any tips on how to do that, I'd love to hear. :)

Jindie Nails Tried & True mix and match nail art

Tonight's post comes out of a Facebook group I'm a part of for fans of Jindie Nails. We're doing 31 days of Jindie, with a different prompt for each day. Today was my day and the prompt was "favourite crelly." So I decided to turn to one of the first crellies that got me hooked on the brand - Tried & True from the winter of 2012.

Introducing the Renaissance Custom Lacquer Love...Everyday Collection

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been MIA lately. I have no excuse besides laziness and spending a bit too much time with Netflix...that thing is totally addicting.

I have the new Valentine's Day collection from my indie brand, Renaissance Cosmetics. These polishes will go on sale tomorrow, Friday January 24th, at 12pm (noon) EST at Renaissance Cosmetics. At the same time we'll be restocking the popular L'Hiver! So if you missed out the first time, now is your chance to get it!

Renaissance Custom Lacquer Love...Everyday Collection

Check out the rest of this post for more about the collection, as well as a bunch of swatches!

Jindie Nails Anniversary Seaquins and Be-Wear the White Polish, Swatches and Review

Hi everyone! Just a reminder that my blog anniversary giveaway ends in about two and a half hours! Have you entered yet!? If you haven't, I have a bit of motivation for you in tonight's blog post. I have two polishes that are part of my giveaway, from one of my favourite indie brands.

Be-Wear the White Polish and Anniversary Seaquins

These are two polishes I was happy to add to my collection relatively recently. They aren't part of any collection, so if you missed them, they are worthy of a second look!

Polished by Alexandra, Winter 2013: Holiday Traditions

Hi everyone! I have the latest collection from Polished by Alexandra for you tonight. If you haven't seen my previous posts about this brand, you should know that Alexandra started selling soaps and other bath and body products through her shop Soaps by Alexandra, opened in 2011. Earlier this year she moved into making indie polishes, also sold out of the same shop. And she's a professional classical opera singer!

This is my third collection I've reviewed from this brand, and I'm happy to see the development in Alex's work. While the summer collection contained some bright cremes and sheers, and the fall collection had rich shimmers, this collection offers you some classic crellies, and shimmery duo/multichrome polishes.

Polished by Alexandra, Winter 2013: Holiday Traditions

Femme Fatale Cosmetics Swatches

Hello everyone! Things have been quiet over hear on account of work, but I'm very excited to be showing you some Femme Fatale swatches tonight!

Femme Fatale Cosmetics, an indie brand and distributor based in Australia, is probably amongst my favourite indie brands. They are constantly introducing polishes that become lemmings for me. Also they make and sell gorgeous mineral eyeshadows - I bought some a few months ago, and I seriously use them at least 2-3 times per week. If you have not checked them out, I encourage you to do so!

Introducing Lumina Lacquer Eternal Winter!

Hi everyone! Today's post is very special for me, and one that's been in the works for months. Awhile back I was contacted by Tatiana of Lumina Lacquer to create a collaboration polish with her. I love what Tatiana is doing with her brand, and I've enjoyed reviewing Lumina Lacquer on this blog, so of course I said yes! Then of course was the hard part of coming up with an idea and keeping it a secret (I'm not good at secrets).

Lumina Lacquer Eternal Winter

Jindie Nails Fall Chic Collection, Swatches and Review

Hi everyone! I have another great collection from Jindie Nails for you. As I've come to expect from the brand, these all have beautiful colours and glitters, with perfect application, and clever names. I also love that they are not what you would typically expect from a fall collection - there's not a vampy red or brown in sight!

Jindie Nails Fall Chic Collection for 2013

Jindie Nails Halloween 2013 Collection, Swatches and Review

Hi everyone! I hope you aren't tired of Halloween collections because I have another one for you today. If you follow Jindie Nails you may have already seen the new Halloween collection for this year. If not, you are in for a treat! And this collection is soon to be discontinued, so if you want to get your mitts on them, you need to act fast...more on that at the end of my post. :)

Jindie Nails Halloween 2013 Collection

Different Dimension Fall 2013 Collection, Swatches and Review!

Hi everyone! First off, an apology to you and Different Dimension, I meant to post this a few days ago, but behind the scenes things have been stressful here. I'm hoping it will ease up by next week. The Fall 2013 collection came out at the same time as the Halloween collection, and it consists of four great holos, two glitter toppers, and two crellies with glitter. Some of these are currently available, but if you are not able to get your hands on them, be patient. Different Dimension is good about keeping their Etsy store stocked, and these are also available at several distributors.

Different Dimension Chocolate, Cranfairy, Dueling Unicorns, and Lucid Dreams

Different Dimension Lucky, Mystified, Nessie's Revenge, and Scarlet & Grey Remix

There's a lot of photos to go through, mainly because these are so gorgeous that it was hard to limit myself. So I'll offer my thoughts at the very end. One thing to note is the bottle size - I received minis in my press kit, but judging from the Different Dimension Etsy store, I think these are only available as full size polishes.

Chocolate is a brown linear holo. The holo effect is not as strong as the others, but still very noticeable. The formula was great and I had no issues with this - it went on very smooth and evenly. 3 coats.

Different Dimension Chocolate

Different Dimension Chocolate

Different Dimension Chocolate

Cranfairy is a raspberry-coloured jelly with pink and magenta small square and hex glitter. While this looks gorgeous in the bottle, I found that it was difficult to apply. The consistency is a bit thick and lumpy, and as you can see from my photos it's hard to get a nice, smooth, even application. If you get this one, I recommend layering one coat over a matching polish, or adding thinner, which should make the application easier. This was 3 coats.

Different Dimension Cranfairy

Different Dimension Cranfairy

Dueling Unicorns is a vivid warm-toned purple linear holo. It has a strong holo effect and it's a gorgeous polish - I can see this being flattering on a lot of skin tones. Application wise, it was a bit streaky and patchy with first and second coat, but evened out with the third. 3 coats.

Different Dimension Dueling Unicorns

Different Dimension Dueling Unicorns

Different Dimension Dueling Unicorns

Lucid Dreams is an off-white crelly with small gold iridescent and holographic glitter in hexes and squares. I really love off-white polishes, and I love the gold glitter in this. Consistency was a bit lumpy, but slightly better than Cranfairy. I recommend layering one coat over a matching base polish and/or adding a few drops of thinner. Otherwise it has good coverage for an off-white polish. 3 coats.

Different Dimension Lucid Dreams

Different Dimension Lucid Dreams

Different Dimension Lucid Dreams

Lucky is a magenta linear holo. It has a strong holo effect and the colour is so gorgeous and sexy. The formula was good, although it wanted to pull away from tips - that seemed to fix itself on the third coat. 3 coats.

Different Dimension Lucky

Different Dimension Lucky

Different Dimension Lucky

Mystified is a clear-based glitter topper with pink matte circles and hexes, lavender hexes, and copper hexes. The application was great and I had no trouble getting enough glitter out. I love purple and brown colour combinations and this one is pretty. According to Missi, this would look good over neutrals or purples. This was 1 coat over Girly Bits Well Isn't That Special.

Different Dimension Mystified

Different Dimension Mystified

Nessie's Revenge is a grass-green linear holo. Like the others, this has a strong holo effect and is a gorgeous, flattering colour. The formula was excellent - perfect consistency, completely even and self-leveling, and no patchiness. This was 3 coats.

Different Dimension Nessie's Revenge

Different Dimension Nessie's Revenge

Different Dimension Nessie's Revenge

Scarlet & Grey Remix is a clear-based glitter topper with matte grey, matte white and metallic red glitter in small hexes, squares, and circles. Missi describes this as being for her (football?) team the Buckeyes, but I'm not a sports fan and can still appreciate the colours. The formula was excellent and I had no trouble getting enough glitter on the nail. This was 1 coat over Girly Bits D!ck In A Box.

Different Dimension Scarlet & Grey Remix

Different Dimension Scarlet & Grey Remix

Overall, I feel like this collection has a good variety, and I like that the names are often cute or witty. The holos are definitely the stand out of the collection, but I also think they are the least unique of the polishes. We've been seeing a lot of indies come out with holos lately - I'm guessing due to the demand for these polishes - and I feel like we've seen these colours before. That doesn't mean that they are not worth your money. The formula on these holos is excellent, and the holo effect on each one is strong. Also they are a good value - with full bottles running at $11, they are cheaper than many other holos on the market.

Of the holos my favourite is Dueling Unicorns, closely followed by Lucky. My favourite glitter topper is Mystified, and my favourite crelly is Lucid Dreams.

I'm curious, have you gotten any of the new polishes from Different Dimension? Which ones are your favourite?

Different Dimension is available on Etsy, and through Llarowe, Mei Mei's Signatures, Edgy Polish, and Ledoux Nuage. Follow Different Dimensions on Facebook and Instagram (@missibarry) to keep up with updates.

*Products provided for review, all opinions are my own. See my disclosure policy for more details.*

Jindie Nails Summer Chic Collection, Swatches and Review

Hi everyone! I know that the fall collections are rolling in, but I hope you don't mind me showing you some more summer collections! In my defense I only got these very recently, and I was sent a lot of Jindie Nails polishes to review, so I'm trying to get these on the blog as soon as I can. I'm always excited when Jindie Nails comes out with new polishes and collections, and the summer collection is no exception.

Jindie Nails Summer Chic Collection

I feel like this collection has something for everyone. Glitter topper? Check. Crellies? Check. Neon glitter? Check. Bright colours? Check. Tiny glitter? Check. Shimmer? Check. I could go on, but you get the point! :)

Betty's Fetti Milkshake is a pale pink crelly with tiny neon and multi-coloured matte glitter. As much as I like crellies with larger glitter and a variety of glitter, something like this is very refreshing for me. The formula was good - I used three coats and it went on very smooth, but I also used a coat of Gelous and top coat to smooth it out even more. Despite the pale base, it provides good coverage.

Jindie Nails Betty's Fetti Milkshake

Jindie Nails Betty's Fetti Milkshake

Don't Get It Citrus Twisted is a very bright neon green crelly with lime green, yellow, red, and orange hex glitter in different sizes. There's also a subtle gold shimmer but it's not really visible on the nails. I was a bit surprised because the polish is brighter on the nails than in the bottle, but if you like really bright colours you might be interested in this one. I used three coats for full coverage. The application was okay, but I find it a bit glitter dense so it ends up being too bumpy. My recommendation is to use one or two coats over a base colour, or make sure you don't pick up too much glitter on your brush. 

Jindie Nails Don't Get It Citrus Twisted

Jindie Nails Don't Get It Citrus Twisted

Hex On The Beach is a pale peach crelly with yellow, pink, red, bronze, and white glitter. In terms of the glitter there's a nice mix of shapes - hexes, circles and some diamonds - finishes - matte and metallic - and colours - bright neons, metallics and white. I used three coats and the application was great, it goes on very smooth despite the glitter and it provides good coverage with only a slightly visible nail line.

Jindie Nails Hex On the Beach

Jindie Nails Hex On the Beach

Quit Staring At My Melons! is the lone glitter topper of the collection. It has a clear base and mixture of pink, green, white and gold glitter. There's tiny hexes with small and medium circle glitter; also you'll find both matte and metallic glitter in this one. I find the colour scheme in this one to be very nice and unique. I used one coat over American Apparel L'esprit, and the application was great with good glitter payoff.

Jindie Nails Quit Staring At My Melons!

Jindie Nails Quit Staring At My Melons!

That Purple Ish is a lavender crelly with a mix of purple, pink, wine, black and white coloured glitter - mainly circles, hexes and diamonds. There's also a very gorgeous silver shimmer that does show up well on the nails. I used three coats here and the application was great - it goes on very smooth with only some slight fussing with the glitter.

Jindie Nails That Purple Ish

Jindie Nails That Purple Ish

So there you have it! What do you think of the Jindie Nails Summer Chic collection? Which one is your favourite? I would have to say that my picks are That Purple Ish and Hex on the Beach. I love Jen's crellies but tend to go for the more muted colours and/or cool-toned colours (esp. blues and purples). But that's just my personal taste.

These polishes are available on the Jindie Nails website (currently out of stock) and from Llarowe. Jindie Nails is also available from Harlow & Co., Ninja Polish, Femme Fatale Cosmetics, and Mei Mei's Signatures. Follow Jindie Nails on Facebook and Instagram (@jindienails) for updates and new releases.

*Products provided for review, all opinions are my own. See my disclosure policy for more details.*

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!

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.

KBShimmer You Drive Me Katie

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!

KBShimmer You Drive Me Katie

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.*

Jindie Nails Moon Walk LE and She Blinded Me With Science LE, Swatches and Review

Hi everyone! I have a bunch of new Jindie Nails polishes to show you - the new Summer Chic collection and the Mod Quad - but today I'll start out with swatches of two new limited edition polishes that were recently released. These were available previously through pre-order, but if you missed that, they will be available again sometime this month. Check out the Jindie Nails blog for updates.

Jindie Nails Moon Walk and She Blinded Me With Science

I've seen Jen's polishes evolve and develop a lot in the past 9+ months of following her work. Her colours and combinations have gotten bolder and brighter, and you really see her sense of humour come out in the names and play on words that she uses. I think that will become even more apparent when I show all the new polishes.

Moon Walk LE is a shimmery neon pink jelly with a silver/iridescent shimmer, black circles and stars, and silver moons and circles. The colour is very bright but maybe not as bright as my swatches - I think my camera spazzed out when I photographed this polish. The bottle shot at the beginning of this post is most accurate.

Jindie Nails Moon Walk LE

Jindie Nails Moon Walk LE

The application was great and it went on very smooth and leveled perfectly. I used three coats here. The larger glitters were somewhat of a challenge to get out - even with a good shaking - otherwise I didn't have any issues with this polish.

Jindie Nails Moon Walk LE

She Blinded Me With Science LE is a light pink crelly with a very subtle shimmer and an interesting mix of glitters: tiny metallic glitter; large circles (white, black, and teal); black rectangles; neon hexes, squares and circles; and metallic glitter in all kinds of shapes including diamonds. Despite the chaotic mix of colours and shapes, it really works well as a polish.

Jindie Nails She Blinded Me With Science LE

Jindie Nails She Blinded Me With Science LE

I used 3 coats with no base polish, and topped it off with a coat of Gelous and top coat for a smooth finish. The application was great - there was good glitter payoff, it went on very smooth and easily, and despite the three coats, it wasn't too thick or lumpy.

Jindie Nails She Blinded Me With Science LE

I really love both of these polishes, the colours are fun, bright and cheerful. The glitters are whimsical and striking. They are great for summer, or year round really. And both applied effortlessly, which is always a bonus for me.

What do you think of these? Did you get any new Jindie Nails during the pre-order?

These polishes are available on the Jindie Nails website (currently out of stock) and from Llarowe. Jindie Nails is also available from Harlow & Co., Ninja Polish,  Femme Fatale Cosmetics, and Mei Mei's Signatures. Follow Jindie Nails on Facebook and Instagram (@jindienails) for updates and new releases.

*Products provided for review, all opinions are my own. See my disclosure policy for more details.*