Spica by Windestine

Hey Ladies,

Sorry for being out of touch. This week is a hectic mess for me. Today I’m showing you Spica by Windestine.

Spica is a blue jelly base with silver glitter of different shapes and sizes. I really love half-moon glitter accents.

Lynnderella Scandal - Opinion of the Marketer

Hi Ladies,


Initially I wasn’t going to write a blog post about the entire Lynderella scandal. But I stumbled upon her eBay store over the weekend and saw that she sells her polishes as an auction. Moreover, people are bidding and willing to pay more than $50 for the bottle. I wasn’t surprised….I was shocked!!!

I’m not going to go into the details of Lynnderella’s “gift” policy to her brother or other people. It’s not my right to judge and I don’t know her brother’s situation.

My post is more about her being a brand, an artist and a designer.
Most of my career I’ve been studying and working in marketing. And for me things she could have done to ruin her brand she did. Usually, people pay extra money or buy products for several reasons:
1. Exclusivity
2. Quality
3. Customer relations
4. Creativity

Lynnderella polishes were exclusive from the start. Limited labor gives limited supply and creates an opportunity to raise the price. And let’s all agree…we would pay anything to get any of her polishes. But what we see now is not a right way to reach prosperity. It’s called supply deficit or, simply saying, manipulation of the number of produced polishes to sell it for the higher price. Let’s all wake up…people are thinking whether to buy Unicorn Pee for $50, but are blindly bidding and paying much more to get Lynnderella’s polishes. Ask yourself…Are these polishes so unique? Ask yourself…. Is her new collection one of a kind? Haven’t you seen this from other indie brands that released almost similar polishes before she did? Nobody told her that she is copying them.

Quality is another issue. If you read my blog you know that I’m an indie junkie. I’ve tried a lot of Etsy and Facebook brands. Their quality surpasses the quality of the Lynnderella polishes. Why? They care what they put into their polish. I’m not even talking about the “Bleeding Glitter”. I’m talking about overall proportions of the glitter to the base. Lynnderella polishes are chunky and hard to settle. They have always been like that. For the person that states: “it took decades of self-work, research, training, study and paying attention to processing visual information to be able to create Lynnderella's lacquers", it is a sloppy work. She thinks that she is still the Queen of the indie nail polish market, but there are much more humble and talented people that started their brands.

The thing that was a turning point for me is more about the attitude. Although everybody understands that small indie brands sell nail polishes for profit, we still get the feeling of the community while purchasing from them. We know that if we ask, they will answer. If they have a problem with supplies, they will tell us. It’s a two-sided communication that makes brand more personal. Lynnderella’s attitude towards her customer…hmmm….what can I say, we all feel the ignorance I guess.

It is sad to see that a great brand has fallen. She started the new era of the nail polish, almost disrupted the entire industry….almost. I don’t think most of the people who are disappointed in her behavior will buy again. Lynnderella should really think about putting her Shiny Golden Crown in the closet and appreciating her customer. Without doing so, her so-wanted prosperity will be very short-term.

P.S. I don’t feel I will ever want to wear my Lynnderella polishes again. I’m not planning to sell them either. I’m thinking of giving them away, for people who do not have such strong feeling about the entire story. I’ll keep you updated.

Etude House Missing U Panda Hand Cream Review

Have you girls seen Missing U hand creams by Etude House yet? I was browsing eBay to try some make up or skincare from Korean brands and came across these hand creams in adorable animal packaging. I love pandas, so I got myself a “Panda” Cream.

I like the fact that the percentage of profits generated by sales of these creams goes to save endangered species.

Overall, I’m very satisfied with the purchase. The texture of the cream is non-greasy, but creamy. It absorbs very quickly without leaving residue on the hands. I would say that it’s light, but still nourishing.
Each cream has its own scent. Panda cream is supposed to have the peach one. I didn’t like the smell. To me it doesn’t smell like peaches, but it is not bad and vanishes seconds after application.

There are 4 creams in Missing U series. You can see them all in the photo below. Aren’t they adorable?
I love the way the story of each animal is told in a cute, yet heart-breaking way.

I got my Missing U Panda hand cream on eBay for around 9$ with free delivery.

Whimsical ideas by Pam Saturday Morning Cartoons

Oh, Boy!!! I have no words to describe this nail polish:)

Saturday Morning Cartoons is a deep blue jelly base with medium red, green and blue glitter. Usually pigmented bases mute colors of the glitter, even if it’s extremely bright. This is not the case with this nail polish; on contrary green and red glitter especially stands out with the bright blue background. 

This nail polish is literally packed with glitter, however, it applies evenly. Overall, I would recommend using 3 coats, because the base is jelly. You can also use any dark blue crème polish as a base. As a top coat, I used Seche Vite to add a little bit more shine, but SMC is not top coat “hungry”, so you can skip top coat part if you want.

If you want to see more creations by Pam, check out her Facebook page.

Aphrodisiac by Wonder Beauty Products

Hi Ladies,
Today I’m showing you Aphrodisiac by Wonder Beauty Products. I’m seriously starting to get antsy to pick up some other polishes from this Etsy store. They are all uniquely gorgeous. Just in case you missed the review of Crotch Rocket, another polish I’ve got from WBP, you can check it here.

Aphrodisiac is a subtle mint jelly base with gold, orange, turquoise, silver glitter. It also has golden shimmer that creates the effect of iridescence.

This nail polish is jelly and thus sheer. I applied 2 coats to get the full opacity. It seems to me that the mix in the bottle is slightly different from the polishes sold in a jar. I didn’t see orange glitter in the pictures of the latter, but I think it actually adds a hint of spice to the “potion”.

Lime Crush by Fixation

Lime Crush is a beautiful bright lime crème with lots of silver, pink, grass green and black glitter of different shapes and sizes. It’s a summer gem of indie nail polishes. The color is so vibrant; you can almost feel the sour taste of lime. The application is great. Crème base is opaque, so 2 coats are enough.

I haven’t seen any other nail polishes from Fixation on Etsy, Lime Crush was the only one. The store right now has been renamed to Northern Star Polish; you can check it out here. The full-bottle price of the nail polish is $ 8.25.

Priti NYC Barbarossa

I know I have been showing you a lot of orange nail polishes lately. I have been moderately obsessed with burnt oranges over the past couple of month. I promise, this is the last one… for now. It is definitely worth checking out.

Priti NYC Barbarossa is a muted orange crème with a little bit of pink shimmer. Usually Priti NYC formula is on the thicker side. Barbarossa’s formula is thin, but not runny. The application is great: nail polish dries fast even without the top coat. It also is very durable (5 days without chipping!) like many of the Priti NYC polishes.

Crotch Rocket by Wonder Beauty Products

I’ve been waiting for Wonder Beauty Products to release nail polishes in the bottles. Jennifer, the owner of the Etsy shop, created some amazing glitters, but I was never really attracted to the “polish in a jar” concept. If you are wondering what it is, you can see a review of one of her jar polishes on Crystal’s Crazy Combos blog.

I somehow manage to leave polish stains everywhere in my house, so this system didn’t appeal to me at all.
Crotch Rocket is a light grey jelly packed with blue, silver, neon yellow, orange and purple glitter. For me personally, this is one of the best indie glitter nail polishes in terms of uniqueness of the color combination. It definitely stands out from the “crowd”.

The application is great. The durability of the nail polish is superb (4-5 days without chipping). Although there is a lot of glitter, it applies evenly and dries fast.

Dupe Day: OPI The Amazing Spiderman Collection vs. Chanel

Hello!

After reviewing OPI the Amazing Spiderman mini set, I instantly thought of comparing Just Spotted the Lizard with Chanel Peridot. But when I swatched Number One Nemesis it also reminded me of Chanel Graphite.

Just Spotted the Lizard and Peridot are both copper-green multi-chrome nail polishes. After comparing them side by side, I can’t see much difference in color. They are both equally vibrant. The formulas of these 2 polishes are very close. The polish is on the thinner side and dries quickly. I would recommend using 2-3 coats.

Number One Nemesis and Graphite are also very close dupes. Graphite has colder undertones, whereas Number One Nemesis has gild glitter dust in it. In the natural light only slight difference shows. In terms of formula, Graphite is more pigmented, so only 2 coats are enough for the full opacity. Number One Nemesis is sheer and 3 coats are required to get the coverage you see in the pictures. I would also say that Graphite is more “grainy”, that I don’t really like, so overall the OPI formula is better.

Verdict: If you don’t want to spend a lot of money on Chanel polishes, OPI the Amazing Spiderman is a great substitute in terms of color dupes and quality.

Bright Colorblock French manicure

For this bright colorblock mani I used:

- OPI Pamplona Purple
- OPI Do you Lilac it?

I already posted this manicure once on my Facebook page, but I thought it would be nice to make it in different colors.

I Believe in Fairies by Whimsical Ideas by Pam

Hi Ladies,

I hope your weekend was great!

Today I’m showing you I Believe in Fairies from my recent indie polish haul. This polish was created by Whimsical Ideas by Pam.

“I Believe in Fairies” is a beautiful lavender jelly packed with holo glitter and silver stars. It’s a very dreamy nail polish. The formula is on the thicker side, but the polish is still sheer. I used 3 coats and a top coat.
I love the star glitter. There is enough of it to get couple of stars on each nail. Usually I have problems with “fishing out” big glitter particles from the polish, but this is not the case with “I Believe in Fairies”.

Here’re some photos without the base coat, so you can see how pretty the polish is by itself:

If you prefer to layer sheer glitter polishes with the colored base, here’s the result of one of the combinations. I used OPI Do You Lilac It? as a base.

If you would like to see the rest of the Pam’s beautiful polishes, check out Whimsical Ideas by Pam Facebook page. You can find all information there.

Windestine Pumpkin Spice

Hi Ladies, today I’m showing you one of the polishes from recent Indie haul, Pumpkin Spice by Windestine.
Pumpkin Spice is a burnt orang jelly packed with tons of gold hex glitter of different sizes. It actually reminds me of my favorite orange polish of all times, OPI Ginger Bells, just with a lovely touch of glitter.

Because the polish is jelly based, one coat is too sheer if you are not layering it with colored base. On the other hand, 2 coats are enough for the opaque coverage and dry fast. The quality of this polish is good; I’m wearing it for 2 days and it still looks like I have just applied it.

Currently, Windestine collection is sold out, but she plans to re-stock in a week or so. If you want to check out her nail polishes, you can do so by visiting her Etsy store or Facebook Page. Mini polish costs $4 and full-sized bottle costs around $8.

Designer Thusday: Prabal Gurung Inspired Manicure

I absolutely love purple theme and prints of Prabal Gurung Sprint 2012 collection. I was inspired by the color contrast as well as the textures.

For Prabal Gurung inspired Manicure I used:
- Revlon Matte Powder Puff;
- Illamasqua Baptiste.

Nail Art with Leftovers from the Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips

Last weekend I decided to try Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips for toes. I like toe nails designs, but I never do it. Snake Print I have chosen is super funky and summery with green and purple. 

Because my toe nails are small, I had an entire strip left, so I used part of it for this simple nail art and the rest was enough for the entire manicure. 

The last time I used Sally Hansen nail polish strips I also had one set left for another manicure, but in a week it dried out, so I had to throw it out. Taking into consideration that the set costs around $8-$9, it’s an expensive one time manicure for me, because I don’t wear it more than 2-3 days anyways. 

June Indie Polish Haul

I have discovered several awesome indie brands that I simply couldn’t resist to pass.

My first discovery is Whimsical Ideas by Pam Facebook store. Pam creates unique and lovely glitters. As I try to limit my nail polish hoarding until I buy new storage, I picked only 4 polishes:
- Georgia Peach Fuzz ( you can check out the review here);
- I Believe in Fairies;
- Saturday Morning Cartoons;
- Seuss.

I also found this little treasure on Etsy: Lime Crush by Fixation. I haven’t heard of this seller before and never have seen any swatches, but this yummy lime glitter is so gorgeous and funky. I can’t wait to wear it on a sunny day.

The last but not the least is a small Windestine haul. I haven’t tried this brand, so I purchased mini polishes, but gosh…they are beautiful. Spica is a bright blue base with silver holographic glitter; Pumpkin Pie is a muted orange glitter.

Which ones do you like the most and would like me to review first?

Whimsical Ideas by Pam - Georgia Peach Fuzz

Hi Ladies,

I have another awesome indie polish to show you today created by  Whimsical Ideas by Pam.

Georgia Peach Fuzz is a beautiful peach jelly with tons of copper glitter of various sizes and shapes. It is so pretty and feminine. It is a very specific color shade, so I think it might be unflattering on some skin-tones. It worked perfectly for me though.

The application is flawless. Because the polish has semi-sheer base, I would recommend using 2-3 coats. If you plan to layer it with the colored base coat, 1-2 coats will be enough. The glitter sets uniformly all over the nail. The nail polish chipped off on the 3rd day, but I usually do not wear polish more than 2-3 days, so it works for me.

If you would like to see other beautiful creations by Whimsical Ideas by Pam or see order details, visit here Facebook page (here). Any polish costs $10. Unfortunately, she only ships in the US for now.

Nicole by OPI Me+Blue

Me+Blue is a blue glitter polish with small holographic sparkles. It is boring to me personally in the sunlight, mostly because it completely loses shiny multi-dimensional effect. On the other hand, it is definitely stunning under the artificial light. 

Milani Neon Fresh Teal

Today I’m showing you one of the Milani Neon shades. Milani is one of my favorite drugstore brands. The brand has a nice color palette and texture variety. I tried to avoid it for some time assuming that inexpensive price is the sign of average quality, but it is not. The quality of the Milani polishes I have is superb.

Fresh Teal is a deep teal, no surprises here. I wouldn’t say that it is a neon shade per se, but it is bright. It is just a nice summer shade, fun to wear on the toes and nails.

The polish is pigmented and applies nicely without streaking. The formula is on the thinner side, but the polish itself stays for 4-5 days without chipping. I applied 2 coats.