Swatches – Carpe Noctem Clear Skies and Interstellar Towel

Hi everyone! I’m still here – yes, I am! So…ummm…I’ve been away for a while… A combination of various factors ended up keeping me away from my blog for a month and a half, the biggest one being that I’ve been putting in a lot more time at work. Usually when I come home on weekdays, I’m too tired to paint my nails at all, let alone do nail art. Also, I shifted my spare time towards another creative hobby of mine – sewing – so that I could complete a gorgeous new Renaissance costume for this year’s faire (which is AWESOME). But, yeah, I’ve been away from my blog for a while, which isn’t something I wanted to happen. Hopefully I can get back into blogging more frequently now that I’m not doing as much sewing, and I can eventually move through the backlog of things I’ve wanted to write about (especially the subscription boxes!).

Before I get around to the subscription box posts, though, I thought I’d post some swatches of a few polishes I wore recently by an indie brand named Carpe Noctem Cosmetics. I don’t exactly remember how Carpe Noctem first came to my attention, but I somehow found their Etsy shop and I liked a number of polishes they had and placed an order. They have some gorgeous holographics and shimmers, and the best part is that they offer multiple sizes of the same colors so you can buy smaller (and less expensive) bottles if you want! Since I have photos of some of the polishes I’ve worn, I thought I’d share them: here are Carpe Noctem Clear Skies and Interstellar Towel!

Swatch – Enchanted Polish Daydream

Hi everyone! While I’m busy preparing my subscription box posts for the month, in the meantime, I have a swatch of Enchanted Polish Daydream to show off on the blog. Enchanted Polish is an indie brand with a cult-like following around it that is so intense, it is only possible to purchase bottles within a few hours every couple of weeks or from resellers. Up until now, I hadn’t bought into the hype surrounding the brand because I hadn’t seen anything from them that I felt was worth the expense and the difficulty. But then I saw pictures of Daydream and I was so smitten that I eventually bought a bottle from a reseller at a fairly reasonable price. And so, without further ado, I now present a swatch of the most expensive nail polish I own!

Swatch – Mango Bunny Surprise Bunny #4

Hi everyone! I’ve got a short post today about this cute little indie polish from a brand called Mango Bunny (seriously, how adorable is that name?)! A while ago I saw a swatch of one of their polishes on Instagram (not this one) and I found it so completely mesmerizing that I ended up ordering a bunch of polishes from their Etsy shop, including some “surprise bunny” mystery polishes. I decided to pull out one of them – Surprise Bunny #4 – to wear around for a few days because I was feeling really drawn to the light-blue-with-a-twist thing that this polish is all about.

Swatches – Different Dimension Tulips Are Better Than One and Julep Marla

Hi everyone! I sincerely apologize for the lack of blog posts recently. The truth is: I’ve been sick with a really bad cold since my last blog post over a week and a half ago. Between having a fever for a few days, frequent coughing fits, losing my voice for 5 days, and difficulty sleeping, my “energy” for painting my nails (much less nail art) was completely sapped. On the bright side, I’m FINALLY starting to get better after what feels like forever, and I’m back to posting! I know I missed at least one blog post that’s usually a monthly feature on my blog (you probably know what it is), but I hope to get back on track soon and finish up all the things I got behind on when I was sick. Anyways, to any of my readers who have stuck around, thank you so very much for continuing to read my blog ❤

Today I have two swatches of some random polishes I wore while I was sick. The first is Different Dimension Tulips Are Better Than One – a really fabulous bright “blurple” (blue-purple) duochrome shimmer – and the second is the polish I picked to wear on the first night of Passover: Julep Marla. Unlike the majority of the posts where I show swatches of polish, these two don’t really have any relationship to each other. But, still, I thought I’d combine them into one blog post since my swatch posts are pretty short.

Little Glitter Hearts Nail Art

Hi everyone! I’ve been under the weather recently, so I have just a short post for now. Today I have a quick bit of nail art that I was inspired to do by someone close to me who could use some extra love right now ❤ Why not show it with lots of hearts?

Swatch – Glitter Gal Love Bite

Hi everyone! I have a quick swatch for you today of a GORGEOUS red holographic nail polish by Glitter Gal called Love Bite. I chose this polish to wear for a bit because I was feeling in the mood for red polish, and wanted something “special”; this one definitely fits the bill! The particular medium, warm red of this polish really suits my skintone and the strong holographic effect is just so mesmerizing – I love it!

Swatch – Rainbow Honey Tera Flare

Hi everyone! Before I get into the nail polish stuff for today, how do you like my new layout? I thought it was about time for my blog to get a makeover, so I changed the theme to make it prettier and more modern. To be honest, I chose my blog’s old theme because it put my content in the right places, but I never really liked the look of it. This new theme definitely has the “form factor” that the old one didn’t, and it still keeps all my content where I want it. Win-win! I’m still working on making it perfect, so expect a few changes as I keep improving things.

Anyhow, today’s post is a swatch of Tera Flare by Rainbow Honey, which is a really unique polish that I am quite fond of. It features silver holographic square glitter and tiny turquoise hex glitter in a black base with a little bit of blue shimmer. That’s kind of a confusing description, but this polish does have a lot of different elements to it. It was SO worth wearing this polish by itself – it’s truly mesmerizing to behold.

Blue Glitter Gradient with Darling Diva Beautiful and Julep Eliana

Hi everyone! I’m still having some pretty terrible computer problems that have been draining away my patience for nail art, but I still wanted to post something so here goes! Today I have a simple gradient using a glitter polish named Beautiful by Darling Diva over a moody blue base (Julep Eliana). I chose the Darling Diva polish out of a selection on Llarowe because I liked the mix of turquoise, copper, and white glitter a lot (also it was on sale). Since my nail polish collection is not big on glitters, let alone indie glitters, I think it makes a good addition to my stash. Putting it over Julep Eliana – a medium-dark denim blue crème – suited it quite nicely; I find the result quite appealing.

Swatch – Girly Bits More Cowbell

Hi everyone! I am still on vacation over the winter holidays, but wanted to put out a scheduled post since I don’t want my blog to be completely silent for two weeks! This is a swatch of Girly Bits More Cowbell: a muted aqua holographic polish with small flecks of blue microglitter that peek through the base color. It’s so gorgeous! And it looks rather nice as a wintery, ice princess polish. Other than the pretty color, I picked out this “More Cowbell” polish because it’s named after my dad’s all-time favorite Saturday Night Live skit – obviously it was a must-have for me!

Rainbow Honey Sea Star and 488nm (August Mystery Bag)

Hi everyone! I’m excited to show off some indie nail polish by Rainbow Honey today, including a brand-new polish from the August mystery bag! This is my first post with indie polish, actually. I’m sure that I’ll have many more to come 🙂

I’ve had my eyes on Rainbow Honey for quite some time, and I finally sprang for some polish earlier this month. My order arrived yesterday, and I was so excited about it that I had to do some nail art! This simple design features Sea Star (the June 2014 LE) on top of a new Rainbow Honey polish from this month’s mystery bag: 488nm. I really like how fun and cute the two polishes look together. Definitely the aquatic look I was going for.

Rainbow Honey Sea Star and 488nm

From the second I saw Sea Star, I knew I wanted to own a bottle. What can I say…love at first sight? I don’t know why I find it so compelling, since I usually am not into glitter bombs. I guess I’m drawn to its color combination of aqua, coral, and yellow, and the fact that it’s adorable without being too precious for me. The problem was finding a polish worthy of putting underneath it. Luckily, my search was over when I opened the August mystery bag and fished out 488nm (swatches are below).