My ellagee custom and a giveaway teaser...

Hello!!! I know it's been a long time since I've posted but I've been so busy loving on some new polishes. This one is my favorite of all and warning, this is gonna be a loooooong post!

Custom

I contacted Laura at ellagee about doing a custom for me based on my favorite color. I'm sure you can guess what it is based on the pictures below...it's a certain blue, made famous by a certain jeweler...ahem...

This is what she came up with and I named it Angela Blue. Because it's mine. ALLLLLL MIIIIIINE! Actually there were 3 bottles made. One for myself, one for a giveaway (teaser), and one for my polish bestie, Heather at I Feel Polished. I know she loves this color too so I thought it would be a good surprise for her!

I picked Laura to do my custom because she is crazy easy to work with and I love her polishes (I now have 50. Yes 50.). She sent me pics and let me make the final decision. I absolutely love what we came up with :-) The formula is amazing, it's opaque in 2 coats, and I'm pretty sure if I run out she'll make me more. I hope! I also decided to do an accent nail because this polish is way too pretty for my manicure with it not to shine!

Accent nail

For my accent nail to go with Angela Blue, I was inspired by the lampshades made famous by *cough* Louis Comfort Tiffany. His lampshades are so beautiful and coveted by many. Especially by me. Anyway so I found a picture of one with red, orange, and purple flowers and decided to do my own take on it. For the base I used another custom (SURPRISE!) from Laura that came with my Angela Blue, Sweet Heather, inspired by the white ribbon that's on the boxes from the aforementioned jeweler :-) Then I used a very small dotting tool and Zoya Elodie, a medium orange/coral, and made an irregular dot in the middle of my nail. Using the same dotting tool, I used Pure Ice Siren (red), ellagee Haleakala Sunrise (pink shimmer), and ellagee Aloha Oe (purple shimmer) to make irregular shapes for the petals. Next I used Essie Go Overboard (dark teal) for the leaves. Then using a very small nail art brush (and a shaky hand but remember, I did this on my left hand...and I'm left handed o.O) I used Sinful Colors Black On Black to fill in the lines and actually make the petals and leaves. Then I drew some random lines coming off the flower to indicate the "lampshade" part. I thought it turned out really well, considering A) this is my 2nd attempt at free hand nail art and B) I did it right-handed!

Giveaway

I have one more bottle of Angela Blue to give away to a lucky reader. As soon as I hit 100 likes on Facebook and 100 followers on IG, be looking for a chance to win a bottle of my custom!!

Pretty in blue,

The Unprofessional Polisher

Fast mani makeover :-)

Oh you all...baseball season is making my life crazy! We've been playing two and three nights a week so we can makeup games we missed at the beginning of the season due to Mother Nature's crying jags. I haven't had much time to do my nails, and I've been refreshing two and three day old manis so I don't have to spend much time on them.

This mani started with ellagee The Only Water In The Forest. I describe this color as a dirty mint green. It has shimmer to it too, and I'm on a green kick lately, so I decided I was going to use it even though I've already featured it on the blog :-)

After a couple of days, it was looking pretty scruffy, so I got the idea to use it as the base for a watercolor mani--

For this I used ellagee Forgetful Lucy, a Cover Girl lavender, and Zoya Edie. I just polished on some blobs and used a brush dipped in acetone to mix and smooth them. Then, I topped it with ellagee Rainbow Syrup, because, well, you should Rainbow Syrup all the things!! It took me roughly 20 minutes to do and my mani was refreshed and ready to go for another 2 days :-)

Rainbow Syrup all the things!

The Unprofessional Polisher

ellagee 1985

Ohmygawd, I like, totally have some, like, totally awesome neon nail polishes to, like, show you today!

Ok, I can't talk like that anymore! Missourian does Valley Girl doesn't really work lol!

I have 3 polishes from ellagee's 1985 collection for you! They are NEON, they are SHIMMER, they are GLITTER, and they are absolutely CRAZY awesome! What can I say, I'm a child of the '80s and I love me some neon polishes :-)

First up is Like, Totally Coral. It is a shimmery coral neon with a pink tone. I love this polish because A) it's a neon and B) it's the only coral polish I own that doesn't look carrot orange on me. Formula on this was superb for a neon. Typically neon polishes are streaky because of the pigments used, and this one was awesome. I loved it so much and it wore so well I had it on for FOUR DAYS! That is absolutely unheard of for me! Like with most neons, to get the color to really pop it should be applied over a white base. Here is two coats of Like, Totally Coral over white:

In my "lightbox" aka the bathroom sink:

In natural light--pardon my foot I didn't see til just now :-\

With an LED light--I love how you can see the pink shimmer in this one!!

Lime-O-Rama is exactly what the name suggests...it's a lime green neon polish! My son says it's "Mountain Dew can green". I say it's AWESOME! Formula on this one was a little streakier than Like, Totally Coral, but I was also in a hurry to get my nails done because we had a ballgame to get to, so it could be that I wasn't as careful with the undies on this one.

Lightbox

With flash--look at the shimmer <3!

Full sunlight:

Last but certainly not least is Bust A Move, a glitter topper with matte neon blue glitter shreds and hexes and holographic purple squares. I have to admit, I bought this JUST for the name. And every time I say it or type it, I start singing the song!!! Shown here over Like, Totally Coral:

Lightbox:

Natural light:

All in all I LOVE this collection and wish I could have gotten them all! Like, Totally Coral and Lime-O-Rama both retail for $9.50 and Bust A Move retails for $9 and all three plus the rest of the 1985 collection can be found at www.ellagee.com!

See ya on the flip side, yo!

The Unprofessional Polisher

So not what I was trying for take 2

This month has not been my lucky month for nail art working out how I intended. For this mani, I was trying to go for a sunset, sea, and sand look using three polishes from the ellagee Laule'a collection. I started by painting all my nails with Golden Sands of Waikiki, a beautiful gold shimmer polish. Then using a ripped up makeup sponge I sponged Haleakala Sunrise (a beautiful pink shimmer) near my cuticles for the sunset and Lanikai Beach (an ocean colored shimmer) in the middle of my nail for the sea. Then using ellagee A Kiss For Luck (a glitter top coat with iridescent glitters) I sponged over Golden Sands for the spray coming up on the beach from the ocean. This looked so beautiful and gorgeously beachy in my head...

I think my first mistake was starting with a base of Golden Sands. I should have started with a base of Haleakala Sunrise, then sponged the Lanikai Beach and Golden Sands over the top of it. Also, I think I should have used less Lanikai Beach as the blue seems to absolutely dominate in this mani.

All in all this isn't horrible, but it definitely didn't turn out how I planned. I'm going to try to learn from my mistakes and hopefully round 2 turns out better!

ellagee Laule'a collection Part 2 :-D

So today I have for you all the last half of the ellagee Laule'a collection. I loved this collection so much, but I have to admit the staying power is not what I've come to expect from ellagee polishes, at least on the shimmers. Since I have no other indie shimmers to compare to, and I've never had a problem with any of Laura's polishes before, I'm assuming it's the finish that makes them chip more easily and not the quality of the polish. With the gorgeous colors though, I feel like they're worth it! Onto the polish!!

This beautiful green shimmer is named Stairway to Heaven. Not being familiar with Hawaii, I'm not sure what this is referencing, but I know I had the song by Led Zeppelin stuck in my head...and now again while I'm typing this. Sigh. Anyway, this was actually my least favorite of the collection. I'm not sure why because she is a very pretty emerald green but I just wasn't crazy about this color on me. The formula on this was similar to the others, if you saw my previous post, in that I had to work kind of hard to keep the brushstrokes from showing, but I think that's typical for a shimmer polish.

Leilani is a gorgeous crelly with blue, purple, and iridescent glitters. I love this polish. I've had it on my toes since Mother's Day. I don't love it as much as Pua Melia, but I love it!! I'm a blue kinda girl though :-). Formula on this one was smooth and I had no trouble with the glitters. It's shown in two coats in the picture and I could have probably done another one. I wore this for two days on my fingers with no chips!

Aloha 'Oe is a beautiful purple with a little bit of pink. Formula on this one is the same as the other shimmers. I noticed more on this color than the others (and it truly may have been my polishing) that it seemed to wave or ripple a bit. You can see it on my middle finger in the pics.

Lanikai Beach is a gorgeous blue shimmer. I love this color! It has a silverish, teal sheen to it depending on the lighting, almost looking like a duochrome. The first picture is the most true to color. This was one of my faves of the collection! Formula was the same as the other shimmers on this one, but for the gorgeous color I'm willing to overlook short wear times.

I'm excited to see what Laura has coming out next...my wallet however, is not!! :-)

ellagee Laule'a collection, Part 1 :-D

Whew, ok so today I have for you all the first of two posts on the ellagee Laule'a collection. Let me tell you a little about this collection, from my point of view.

The last two collections Laura from ellagee came out with I liked, but I wasn't crazy over the top for them. So I knew when she announced she was doing a collection based on Hawaii I was in trouble. I started saving money back as soon as I heard the whispers. Then she released these. And I bought 7 of 8. Sigh. I knew it was coming. I was prepared. However I'm very quickly running out of room for all my polish, and Laura isn't helping :-) !!

Onto the beauties!!

This is Pua Melia. It is my favorite of all 7 I bought. Holy smokes, I LOVE this polish! It is everything a summery Hawaiian polish should be! It's got yellow and orange and pink and iridescent glitters with a white crelly base. CRELLY. PINK GLITTER. I'm in love!! Plus the formula is awesome and it wears so well!

Next up is Golden Sands of Waikiki. This was the sleeper of the group. I wasn't going to buy it, then I thought oh hell, I'm already buying 6 what's one more? Plus I don't have this particular shade of golden brown shimmer *wink* *wink* I was totally blown away! I didn't expect to like it, but I actually LOVED it! The color is so beautiful and looks so pretty with my skin tone! Formula on this one is a little streaky and it dried to a powdery like finish without topcoat. I have never bought an indie shimmer polish before though so that may be par for the course. These shimmers don't last as long as other ellagee polishes I have, and your brush strokes do kind of show if you're not careful! Also, this was a 3 coater for me.

Last for this post is Haleakala Sunrise. I can't pronounce it, but it must be Hawaiian for GORGEOUS!!! This was my #2 fave of the group. I am a sucker for pinks, and this one did not disappoint. In fact I'm still trying to figure out how to wear it again already without you guys figuring out I'm wearing it again. And again. And again :-) Formula on this one was a little streaky and thin and it was also a 3 coater, but OMG I love the color so much I didn't care! It also dried to a powdery like finish without topcoat. 

Stay tuned for installment #2 of the Laule'a collection coming on Friday!!

Squishy raspberry sparkle!

I love jelly polishes...the depth they can give...their squishiness...it makes me want to lick my fingernails because they remind me of candy :-)

Today I have for you a jelly polish from Zoya, Paloma. She is a very beautiful raspberry jelly and I wish I had taken pictures of her on her own so you could see how much she looks like a watermelon Jolly Rancher! Anyway, after I polished two coats of Paloma, I used Zoya Sparkle Gloss Topcoat to give her some sparkle! I love this!!

Sadly, I only got to wear this mani for about an hour. The one complaint I have about jelly polishes is that if it is at all humid outside they take FOREVER to dry. That's why I only got to wear this for about an hour...I waited until I was fairly certain my nails were dry then got up to put something in the sink and completely smudged the polish off two nails. I was sooooo sad because I loved these so much! I will be doing them again!

China Glaze Pink Voltage

Today I have for you all an awesome polish that may have catapulted itself to my favorite pink:

CHINA GLAZE PINK VOLTAGE!!

This polish is a matte neon pink that has a slight light blue shimmer under some lighting. It's bright, it's summery, it's PINK! I absolutely loved it, both matte and glossy. And, I took pics both ways this time! The only complaint I have about this polish is it was a tad streaky; I had to do three coats for complete, non-streaked opacity. Other than that, it's awesome!

Here are the matte photos:

And here are the glossy photos. I used ellagee Glass for my topcoat...Ladies, if you haven't tried this topcoat, YOU ARE MISSING OUT!!! Fast drying, non-smelly, 3-free, cheaper than less effective brands...it is amazing!!! Also, it'll turn a matte polish into a gloss like noone's business!

These pictures really don't show the bright neon of this polish color, nor the high gloss of Glass...but you get some idea of it!! This is a really fun color for spring and summer, and I have a feeling it'll be on my toes soon :-)

Don't forget if you like what you see to follow me via Bloglovin, Facebook, or Instagram!

Ellagee Delphinium

I am excited! I got my polishing table back!! Ok, well, it's not exactly a polishing table, it's my kitchen table, but still! It sits right under the best light source for polishing that I have. I loaned it to a family in May last year and now they're moving and gave it back. I didn't realize how badly I missed it until I was polishing my nails with all of my things scattered around and I could actually SEE what I was doing!!

I don't know about you all, but I am way past ready for spring to be here! And because of that I am currently loving springy hues, especially blues and peaches. Today I have ellagee Delphinium, part of the White Lace and Promises collection. It looks like an icy light to medium blue in the pictures, but it actually looks a little more electric in person. There's also a slight shimmer to it which makes it so pretty! I think this shade is perfect for year round use! I did notice that if you get a little crazy with the top coat it shows around the edges with this polish, hehehe!

As with all ellagee polishes, you can find this one by clicking the link above or by visiting the shop at www.ellagee.com! Trust me when I say they can become an addiction! :-)