Perception Nail Lacquer- Once Upon a Time Collection!

K so I have some awesome polishes to review for you guys! I purchased these from Amy over at Perception Nail Lacquer, she's such an awesome person. She makes pretty polishes, for a great price, and has super fast shipping. Seriously there is none of this 10+ day waiting stuff from her shop!  

I bought the whole Once Upon a Time Collection, that's inspired by the ABC show's characters (which I luuuurve), that coincidentally starts back up on September 30th! I'm so excited, I hope they make more episodes this season!

 On to the polish! First off, I love her bottles and her labels. The labels are an oil-resistant label, which I love since I'm always scared of messing the labels up on my indies with my hands, and have resorted to taping over some of them, which I hate doing, since I can never get the tape on there "just right". I love the bottles too, they remind me of Cult Nails' bottles a lot. The brushes on them were all fabulous! 

 L-R Perception Nail Lacquer Prince charming, Grumpy, Evil Queen, Snow White, Emma Swan, Rumplestiltskin.

The first one I swatched was Prince Charming. It's an awesome blue with silver holographic glitter, when I saw it, all I could think of was how it matched David/Charming's eyes. It has a teal flash to it, that I just couldn't quite get on camera.  This is 3 coats over basecoat.

Prince Charming Full Sun

Prince Charming- Indirect Sun

 Next up is Emma Swan. She's easily my favorite character on the show, her no-BS attitude makes me love her. This polish is a red and chameleon microglitter. Gorgeous.I didn't use a base color under mine because I wanted to show the real deal.  I have some VNL but I really didn't honestly even mind since this polish is so pretty! This is 3 coats over basecoat.

 Now remember when I said Chameleon glitter? Here's the flash: kind of a greenish-gold. Kinda looks like Emma's fiery personality to me! :)

 On to Rumplestiltskin. Now this polish, I can't even tell you how much I liked it. I'm not a big fan of Jellies, just because for me, some of them are sooooo hard to work with. You fight with streakiness, dry time, all that good stuff, so I normally pass on them. This one though, I just can't say enough good things about. It's a brown tinted jelly, that borders on black, with gold holo glitter. Application was super easy, minimal streakiness and I'd say you could go opaque in 4 coats or less if used with a base color. Dry time was great. This is 4 coats over basecoat. The holo-y goodness in full-on sun was too much for my camera.

Perception Nail Lacquer-Rumplestiltskin Indirect Sun

 Grumpy- a clear base with white microglitter and black squares. This is a perfect top coat to refresh a mani or just to give it a little something-something yanno? I used one coat over Sinful Colors Rain Storm, just to try and show case the white shimmery glitters. Loved it. 

 Evil Queen- a light grey-tinted jelly base, with black diamond glitters and hearts. The smoky base will need to be used over a color that you don't mind it slightly changing, but it's beautiful. I fished a little for the hearts, but no biggie. This is one coat and some dabbing of the diamonds and hearts over Sally Hansen Compete Salon Manicure in Eel Skin.

 I saved the best for last. Snow White. now at first glance this polish doesn't look like much. A basic glittery topcoat right?  Prepare to be astonished. It's a iridescent flakie with a clear base, I saw pink, blue, green, and purple flashes, IN THE SHADE. Loved it, I wish I would have taken a pic in the sun. But when you see how it looks in the shade, you can imagine that it looks sooo much better in the sun. This is one coat of Snow White over Essie Licorice.

 My overall opinion of this collection is WOW. Perception's base formula is amazing. it's not clumpy, chunky, a PITA to work with, nothing. Dry time was great on all of these polishes, and with the exception of fishing for a few of the hearts in Evil Queen, I'm really impressed. If you haven't had the chance to check her out, you're missing out. So go do it already!!

Perception Nail Lacquer is available on Amy's Page here and you can also contact her on Facebook here. Upon the writing of this post, she is also taking custom glitter orders as well.  I can't wait to see more of what she has to offer!

Rainbow Honey Sakura Matsuri Collection

 Well hey there! Today I've got some great swatches from the Rainbow Honey Sakura Matsuri Collection. I got these from a pre-order offered here on Rainbow Honey's website. It's a set of 5 polishes and with the complete set purchase you also receive 2 cuticle balms. I picked Sakura Matsuri and the Summer Juice for mine. :)

Sakura Matsuri Collection- L to R- Ephemeral, Koi Pond, Sakura Matsuri, Wistful, and Hanami.

 This is two coats of Ephemeral. She's a soft pink shimmer with blue and purple hues, as well as gold, pink, and turquoise microglitters.  Very pretty once it's on the nail and I couldn't quite get my camera to capture microglitters because the effect is so faint.  I had some application trouble with this one and I'll show you why below. The outcome you see above was achieved using a ELF eyeshadow brush dipped in acetone and lightly brushed over the polish before topcoat to smooth it out. 

 Ephemeral was super goopy straight out of the bottle for me. I'm sure if I would have added thinner before application, it might have turned out better and I might not have had to take the extra step of smoothing it out. But I'm really not going to be a blogger who doesn't give you the honest truth about products I try, and let's be honest, not everyone knows about polish thinner.  I didn't for the longest time either. Overall, it's a pretty polish and I might give it another go after I've had a chance to thin it out.

 Two coats of Wistful, a very pretty light kind of golden-green with a pink shimmering microglitter.  The effect in this polish and Ephemeral are so difficult to capture, you can see it with your eyes, but for me even with the Super-Macro setting on my new camera it wouldn't pick up.  This polish also needed the smoothing method from above before topcoat as it was pretty thick. 

 I think this one's going to need thinner also before I use it again.  I'm not totally against using thinner. But I can't see the need to use it on a brand-new polish. No biggie it's still pretty!

  

This is one coat and some dabbing of the collection's namesake, Sakura Matsuri over Ephemeral. Sakura Matsuri has pale pink and white flowers and holographic glitter. Can you see the sparkles in the bottle?!  Beautiful little rainbows on your fingertips! I didn't really have to fish to get the flowers out and onto the nail either so Sakura Matsuri gets a big thumbs up from me!!

Next up is Hanami. I used one coat over Wistful in the picture above.  Hanami is a very pale pink shimmery base with rose, pink, white, and iridescent glitters. I probably could have chosen a better base to showcase the white glitters more, but I was really trying to see how well all the colors worked together in this collection.  I know for me it's a pain to invest in a collection and then you spend more time trying to figure out what else you can pair it with out of your stash since most collections individual polishes don't end up working well with each other. 

 Now for the one I was the most excited to try! This is 2 coats and some dabbing of Koi Pond over just base coat.  These glitters in black, silver, blues, greens, orange, and turquoise really do give the sense of a Japanese Koi Pond. I really like the balance of the glitters, especially the orange, it really does look like a bright orange Koi swimming beneath murky pond waters.

 Finally since Koi Pond is mostly meant to be a layering polish, I put one coat over L'Oreal's Greycian Goddess. With so many different glitters in the polish, you'll have so many options as to what you can potentially layer it over. 

  I will say overall I'm in love with the glitters in this collection. They applied wonderfully and you can tell there was thought behind the combinations in the glitters chosen.  I do really like Ephemeral and Wistful, but the shimmering effect just doesn't quite do it for me. They're very faint but still pretty. The application with them wasn't the greatest but something I guess I can deal with.

This collection retails for $50.00 plus shipping at Rainbow Honey's online shop.  You can also check out Rainbow Honey's FB page here and stay up-to-date with the shop's news and updates.

The products featured above were purchased by me for review.

The Liebster Award!

Soooooo Pinked Polish,Fancy Schmancy Nails,Apple Lacquer, and Painted Nubbs , nominated me for the Liebster Award!  This little award is all about discovering new blogs and helping those with less than 200 followers to get recognized. 4 Nominations! You girls are unbelievably awesome!! I took some questions from all the girls who nominated me! 

1. Each person tagged must post 11 things about themselves.
2. They must also answer the 11 questions the 'tagger' has set for them.
3. They must create 11 more questions to ask bloggers they have decided to tag.
4. They must then choose 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers and tag them in their post.
5. These lucky bloggers must then be told.
6. There's no tag backs. 

 11 Things about Cupcakes and Polish

1. I am OCD about toilet paper. It must come over the roll not under. I have been known to change the roll at numerous places LOL!

2. I have a horrible case of road rage. 

3. I love to make people laugh. 

4. I miss my Grandma Madeline terribly and have major troubles sometimes dealing with her passing, since I feel responsible.

5. Stargazer lilies are my favorite flower.

6. I love anything blingy. It could be a blinged out spatula and I'd probably buy it!

7. I can make biscuits and gravy FROM SCRATCH and have them be edible every time.  Thanks Grandma :)!

8. I cannot watch those wild animal shows on TV. I always change the channel before the lion or whatever catches its prey. 

9. I once contemplated going to school to study Mortuary Science.

10. I still don't own an Alex, Helmer or Melmer.

11. I have a photographic memory. You can show me a passage in a book, then ask me 6 months from now what it was and I could tell you almost word for word.

My answers

1. Are you an Early Bird or a Night Owl?

Night Owl without a doubt!

2. What would you like to be remembered for?

For being a compassionate, honest, loving person who did the best I could with the time I was given.

3. What is one thing about you that no one would ever guess? 

I read at a rate of 500 words per minute with and 85%comprehension rate. I read Breaking Dawn in just over 7 hours. 

4. Sunrise or Sunset? 

I love the Sunset. I often take it for granted and don't appreciate it like I should.

5. Where would you like to go on vacation if money was no object?

I'd tour Europe and the Mediterranean. Greece is on my bucket list.

6.  Favorite quote?

There is no time for cut-and-dried monotony. There is time for work and time for love. That leaves no other time.- Coco Chanel

7. What is the name of your pet? 

Well I live in an apartment that doesn't allow pets. So I technically don't have one of my own. But I do have the cutest little "dog-brother", a teacup Chihuahua named Bam-Bam, who adores me as much as I do him. 

8. How many times a week do you paint your nails?

Honestly it goes in spurts. Some weeks are way more than others. If I'm rockin' a HTF polish I'll try to stretch it as long as I can. Other weeks I change everyday.

9. What is your favorite kind of pants?

 Flare leg or boot cut jeans that fit! I'm just over 5 foot tall so it's hard to find awesome jeans with the short inseam I need!

10.  What is your least favorite TV show?

Unsolved Mysteries. Creep-0-rama!!! As a young kid this show freaked me out and I would REFUSE to get in the shower while it was on! I think it was the music!

11. What's your favorite color for toe nail polish. 

Anything really, but I do tend to wear more blues and greens on my piggies.

Now for my 11 questions

1. Who is the one person, living or dead, you would like to meet and why?

2. How do you organize your stash? 

3. If there was a fire, and your family was all safe, what 5 polishes are you rescuing?

4. Favorite nail trend?

5. Least favorite nail trend?

6. B3F or does it matter?

7. Describe your personal style.

8. What is your fondest childhood memory?

9. One word that people that know you well would use to describe you.

10. Where is the weirdest place you ever polished your nails?

11. What is your favorite polish finish? (creme, glitter, etc.)

My 11 tagged- or my 6..I searched for a looooong time to find you girls too!

No Naked Nails

Dreamy MM Nails

Muffin Nails

Finger Food Nails

Eclectish 

Cool Polish Bro

  

BL Slapper and Lush Lacquer Dreamsicle Swatches

 Hey guys! Today I have for you Butter London Slapper and Lush Lacquer's Dreamsicle! These swatches were picked by Pony Lauricella over on my FB page after I posted this haul/swap photo below. It was a jumbled up mix of random polishes that I'd acquired during the last month or so

 So the deal was the first person who could correctly identify a polish brand and color could pick my next swatches! Sometimes I have SUCH a hard time figuring out which polish to try next, I get overwhelmed with all of the pretties staring back at me...I'm sure I'm not the only one! How do you guys pick your manis? Please leave me a comment below letting me know your methods!  

 Pony chose BL Slapper and LL Dreamsicle, and let me say first off, I am a HUGE butter London fangirl. Love the names, colors, and the formula on every one I have is divine. Slapper is Brit-speak for our American word "slut"...like I said love the names, they make me giggle!

I will say this outright, these two polishes gave me some much trouble to accurately capture the gorgeousness of them. I literally took 30 or so pics inside and out, and these are the best. I've just gotten a new camera so I'm slowly but surely trying to figure out all the new "bells and whistles".

 Butter London Slapper is advertised as a very bright and bold true teal. I have no other color like this is my collection. It is such a bright teal that I'd say it *almost* borders on being neon. Slapper is part of butter London's Spring/Summer 2012 collection.

  These pictures do no justice to this color. It's soooo much more of a brighter teal than my camera could capture. Formula was great and both photos are two coats. I had no staining after removal which is very uncommon for a teal polish, at least IME.

Next is Lush Lacquers Dreamsicle. I got this lovely from a great girl on FB who was doing a sale. Lush Lacquers are available on etsy here. If you're wanting to try some indie brands without the late night/early morning restocks and flash sales, these are the way to go. Their colors are always in stock, I have heard that shipping can be kind of slow though. They are reasonably priced too, at $8.75 for a full-size bottle. They also offer several different options for package deal of mini-sized bottles as well.

Dreamsicle is a baby blue based polish with silver and blue holographic glitter, tiny holographic bar glitters, and to my eye a touch of subtle pink shimmer. Really beautiful IMO. The picture above is 2 coats just over base coat.

This is one coat over 2 coats of Essie Lapiz of Luxury. I could not take a full on sun photo of this polish because of all the holo goodness in the glitters. They kept throwing sparkly lines all over my photos lol. Super shiny little rainbows everywhere!

My little guy and I went to eat dinner after taking these photos and our waitress noticed my nails right away! So definitely an attention grabber! So happy I bought them!

Butter London retails for $14 at numerous places(Ulta, Nordstrom and their own website here, I'm sure there are other places as well), and Lush Lacquer for $8.75 on etsy through the link above.

Can you guys guess any of the others in my top photo? Any you'd like to see? Let me know in the comments below!  I'm going to be working on the new Fingerpaints Fall Collection later, and hopefully have them up tomorrow!