Okay. I'm supposed to be on a no-buy. For everything. Until I find a job with reliable income. But, obviously, that's not really happening because the indie nail polish world is so amazing and tempting!
This is my first time using
All Mixed Up Lacquers. I saw a collage of this collection pop up in my Instagram feed, and I went to the profile to investigate (I guess I need to stop doing that if I want to follow my no-buy) and found that this is a
10-piece collection made as a collaboration with bloggers Bethany of
Hosuewifenails and Mercedes of
Manicutie, inspired by things that nail polish fanatics say. And you guys know how much I love buying nail polish because it has a cool name, so yeah, I had to have the whole collection.
To my surprise, my order was delivered while the collection was still in pre-order mode! I kicked myself into gear so that you could feast your eyes on these 10 gorgeous babies as quickly as possible.
Warning: TONS of pictures ahead. But that's the best part of a nail polish review, right? And my pinky nail is still short and awkward so it's not going to be in the photos.
What No Buy?
Ha, yeah, of course this one would exist! I see other ladies talking about breaking their no-buys alllll the time.
What No Buy? is a holographic glitterbomb. The base is clear but quite dense with holo dust, and there are lots of small-to-medium shiny glitters in pink, orange, green, and blue. I have two coats over white, one coat over black, and two coats over my naked nail. You can see that the base is dense enough for semi-opacity in just two coats over naked nail!
Just look at all that holographic glitter!!!
This Looked Better in My Head
I've definitely said this, either to myself or in a post, about a lot of the nail art designs I've done! Nail polish can be finnicky and it's hard to get the image in your mind to turn out exactly on your nails.
This Looked Better In My Head is a bright fuchsia jelly with matte purple flakies and some very fine holo microglitters, although I'm not sure those ones picked up on my camera. From pointer to ring finger, I have two, three, and four coats on my nails.
My camera really flattened out the color, so I did my best to edit it on the computer. The brightness of the fuchsia is most accurate in the macro shot above.
One Coat Wonder
Every nail polish lover covets a one coat wonder! They save a ton of time end effort.
One Coat Wonder is supposed to be an actual OCW itself, but that wasn't really the case for me. Partly because of the tiny brush in the mini bottle, and partly because of how long my nails are - they require a lot more polish than your average shorter nail!
I did use only one coat on my ring finger, and I
thought I did it nice and thick, but while editing the photos I realized that no, it was a little streaky. I decided to show my bum pinky nail because, again, I
thought that with its shortness I'd be able to get away with one coat, but again, nope.
But don't get down on One Coat Wonder! Even if it always needs two coats, it's still such a gorgeous mint-teal-turquoise color with more superfine holo dust. I highly recommend buying this one in a full-size bottle if you want it to live up to its name!
Look at My Holo
Holo sparkles are the best sparkles. If you're friends with a nail polish fanatic, she's eventually going to shove her holographic nails in your face and say "LOOK AT THEM SPARKLE!"
Look at My Holo is a neon pink crelly with TONS of holo dust. I have two coats on my pointer finger, three on my middle, and four on my ring finger.
Once again, my camera really muted the neonness of this one so I did my best to edit the colors on my computer. The color accuracy is best in the sunlight and macro photos!
#nailmail
Getting nail mail is one of the most exciting things in my life, and it has been since the time I discovered the indie polish scene! And using the hashtag on Instagram is a must so that I can share my happiness with everyone.
#nailmail is a white crelly base packed full of holographic glitters of many colors - soft and hot pink, teal, lime green, navy... It's like the explosion of color and happiness that you get whenever you open up your nail mail!
I have three coats on each finger in the photos.
The glitter density here is great - it's quite easy to get the same amount of glitter on your nails as you see in the bottle. I had to do a bit of dabbing to get glitters to apply evenly, which is normal for glitters of this size; still, it might have been easier if I had a full-sized bottle with a bigger brush.
#mynailsandmydrink
Here's another popular hashtag for polish lovers! I usually see this when people have exciting drinks like Starbucks or artisan beer/pop or even just a really cute thermos. I myself usually use this hashtag when showing off my fancy artisan pops that I like to try out every now and then.
#mynailsandmydrink is a beautiful pink-toned beige crelly with holo dust in the base, and beige small-to-medium chunky glitters. The base color is one of my favorite browns that I've worn - it's a lovely cream-in-my-coffee brown. I don't think my camera really captured the pinkish undertones, though, so once again I did my best to edit the photos and that's why my skin looks extra pink!
I have two coats on my pointer and ring fingers, and three coats on my middle finger.
Just like #nailmail, the glitter density is really good and I had to dab it around a little bit, but not infuriatingly.
I was drinking boring water in a boring glass when I swatched this, so here's a more exciting picture of my nails and my drink! The totally awesome cup actually came with my order of this collection (I have no idea if it was a pre-order special or if it will come with all orders). My totally awesome drink is a ginger ale float spiked with my apple pie moonshine that I got when I was in Tennessee, and my totally awesome mani will be featured on the blog next week so stick around for more details on that!
Matte All The Flakies
If you've been following me long enough, you'll know that this isn't actually something that I'm prone to saying. Matte is a great effect and all but I usually prefer my nails to stay glossy! But using a matte topcoat over a flakie polish can look really, really cool.
Matte all the Flakies is a clear base with white holographic flakies and, of course, superfine holo dust in the base. I was all prepared to take glossy photos and then use my matte top coat for some matte pictures, but THIS ONE DRIES MATTE!
I have three coats over naked nail and two coats each over black and white. The holo-ness definitely didn't show up as well over naked or white, but it looked AMAZING over black! I suggest always using this over a darker color so that the holo can really pop.
Buy All The Polish
Now THIS is definitely something I say all the time! Screw everything, buy ALL the nail polish!
Buy all the Polish is a super festive glitterbomb. Purple, teal, soft pink, and hot pink glitters all float around in a clear base.
The glitters applied pretty nicely, but I definitely needed to dab them around. I'd say that the dabbing was a little more intense than with the two crellies above, but still not infuriating. And I didn't have to fish around for the glitters, which seems to happen more often in a clear base for some reason!
I have three coats over naked nail, two coats over black, and two coats over Sally Hansen
Blue My Mind. I honestly can't decide which look I like best! They all look like a party on my nails. I think I'm gonna need to incorporate this into my next birthday mani.
Look at this bottle shot macroooooo you can see so many layers of glitter floating around in there <3 <3 <3
It's So Squishy
I think this about every jelly-based glitter that I've used. I don't know what it is about jelly polish that looks so squishy even when it's days dry, but it definitely does!
It's So Squishy is yet another glitterbomb with tons of different colors, sizes, and shapes of glitter. The base is somewhere in the realm of sky-aqua-teal-blue, which makes it look even more squishy.
I have two, three, and four coats from my pointer to my ring finger. Once again, the glitters applied nicely with a bit of dabbing and no fishing.
#nailporn
This is another phrase that I haven't really said before, but I've seen it used before on Instagram and I would definitely say that this post constitutes as nail porn.
#nailporn is a neon-lime green crelly packed with holo dust. It's barely less holographic that Look At My Holo, and just as neon.
This one was opaque in two coats and I didn't see a need to build up to three. It applies super smoothly and evenly, even on a mini brush!
As you can see, my camera had a hard time with this one yet again. The color is most accurate in the sunlight photo!
So, that's the end of this incredibly gorgeous collection. I hope you enjoyed it, I hope that you're as tickled by the polish names as I am, and I hope this post doesn't cause a problem for you if you're on a no-buy!
Which polish is your favorite? Do you find yourself saying any of these phrases all the time? Let me know in the comments!
