Orly Miss Conduct

Hey everybody!  

Today's polish is one I've been wanting for a while, Orly Miss Conduct, from the Holiday 2012 Naughty or Nice collection.  I found this bottle recently at TJ Maxx for the very not-naughty price of $3.99.  Niiiiiice.

Miss Conduct is a beyond beautiful magenta-colored jelly bursting with scattered holo goodness.  It reminds me of OPI DS Extravagance, but Miss Conduct is more pink and brighter.  The formula is perfect (mistake-proof for us kiddie-level painters).  I'm showing two coats here.  You could probably get away with one if your nails are short.

So YAY for finding buried treasure in a markdown bin!  My sister purchased Miss Conduct ages ago, and I've wanted it ever since.  So many buried treasures out there...

As always, thanks for reading, and have a lovely day! <3

a-England Briarwood

Hey everybody!  I did a crazy thing.  I totally forgot I owned a-England Briarwood.  FORGOT.  I told you it's been a rough year :P

I was digging through the ol' collection to rustle up some autumn hues, when there it was, the arguable gem of the Burne-Jones Dream collection, Briarwood.  Briarwood is a deep reddish brown color infused with an especially (or it seemed to me) colorful scattered holo.

I've only had experience with one other a-England polish, Briar Rose.  Briarwood wore for two days before I got a chip versus one day with Briar Rose.  That's not to say Briar Rose doesn't wear well; it is highly unusual for me to go two days without a chip.  Blasted chemistry!!

One reason I love holos like this is because I think they look literally dusty.  Magically dusty!  Briarwood has a lot of gold going on in the holo particles.  I used two coats of this very lovely polish.  The only issue I had with it was that it did stick a bit to my unpleasantly hard cuticle area.  But since I seem to the be the only person in the universe who has that problem, you should be just fine!

a-England is available at Color4Nails.  What's been your experience with a-England?

Thanks for reading, and have a lovely day. <3

OPI Designer Series Opulence

Hey everybody!  I hope you're doing well as we approach the halfway point of the work week. :)

Tonight I'm showing a fancy flashback:  OPI Designer Series Opulence.  I picked this little jewel up for $2 via the Ulta clearance shelf.  Class, that is what you call a "good investment." 

Poor little Opulence sat languishing in my collection of never-worns until recently.  Part of the reason is because - see those marks on the bottle cap?  I could not get the bottle open for anything, until I broke down and got the pliers.  Opulence is the second DS polish to which I had to break out the pliers!  But ugh...isn't it beautiful?  It's an antique-looking mauve pink loaded with shimmery holographic particles, and on me it has the tiniest hint of fawn, which creates a completely gorgeous autumnal look.  

Application of Opulence was my very favorite in a polish:  mistake proof!  And by that, I mean...well... mistake proof!  This formula is just too good to mess things up.  I was quite loathe to remove this one.

Have you snagged any fabulous deals lately?  Do you have any OPI DS polishes?  I was fortunate enough to pick up several DS polishes on clearance, so stay tuned for more yumness.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely day! <3

Pretty Jelly Which Way? and Curiouser and Curiouser

Hey everybody!  Last week when I was blogging about the new Back to School Brights collection by Pretty Jelly, I remembered that I had also purchased a couple of polishes several months ago from the Alice in Wonderland-themed Spring Curiouser and Curiouser collection.  While I've worn the polishes, I didn't get the chance to post about them yet due to "life happening."  So here they are, languishing no more!

I love Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and all things Alice-inspired.  The original illustrations by Sir John Tenniel have without a doubt produced style icons unlike any others in Alice and her Wonderland friends (and foes).  

First up I have the namesake polish from the collection, Curiouser and Curiouser.

"'Curiouser and curiouser!' cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English)." - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Curiouser and Curiouser is a gorgeous bright blue metallic linear holo.  It's somewhere between light and medium blue.  Just imagine the color of Alice's dress.  Then plug it into a magical electric socket!  The photos show two coats with topcoat.

I'm LATE!

Next I have Which Way?, a lilac scattered/linear hybrid that looks very faintly grey-tinged in indirect lighting.

"Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under the table: she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on which the words `EAT ME' were beautifully marked in currants...She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself, `Which way? Which way?', holding her hand on the top of her head to feel which way it was growing..." - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Which Way? is a soft and different sort of neutral.  I always say that my personal neutral polish is purple, and Which Way? is an especially good option if you're in the mood for a paler hue.  The tiny smattering of grey gives it an elegant feel.  This is also two coats with topcoat.

Well...if you insist...

Aren't these colors delightful? :)  You can find the Curiouser and Curiouser collection and many other fabulous offerings by Liz and Pretty Jelly on Etsy.

As always, thank you for reading, and have a lovely day. <3

Pretty Jelly Goes Back to School

Hey everybody!  Yes, it's me.  Hugs and kisses all around!

Nothing brings one out of dormancy quite like a new collection from a favorite brand.  The Pretty Jelly Back to School Brights collection is a fabulous array of *this close to neon* scattered/linear holos that is even prettier in person than in photos.  The colors are a nod to all those grammar school memories we have...well, to be totally honest, we 70's grammar school kids didn't exactly have neon things yet, but I digress...

All the polishes here dry very quickly to a semi-matte finish.  I used top coat on each because, of course, I like to shine.  Let's take a look! 

First up is a polish so full of yumness that it may very well be caloric:  Scented Markers.



Scented Markers were NOT invented in the 1970's.  But never mind that...look at this gorgeous purple!  I would describe it as mulberry-tinged bright orchid.  How's that for specific?  

Next we have every kid's favorite thing in the world:  Pop Quiz!  Ah, I can still remember the sounds of groaning across the classroom...

Pop Quiz is described as coral, but on me it's a gentle apricot.  It's a good bit brighter in indirect light.  I used three coats of this one to cover up Mr. VaNeLi.  I wore this one this week for three days before it finally gave in and chipped. 

The last Back to School polish I have is a lovely bright pink called Book Fair.  I loved Book Fair time.  I bought the coolest ever coloring book once that looked just like those popular adult coloring books around today.  I'm such a visionary. :)

Book Fair is the most linear-leaning holo of the three.  This hot pink is bright, sparkly and electric.

Be sure to check out the Back to School Brights collection on Etsy for the rest of the collection!  I cannot recommend Pretty Jelly enough for consistently good formulas, interesting color choices, and yes - intelligent polish names. 

As always, thank you for reading, and have a lovely day! <3

Pretty Jelly A Novel Christmas Collection... and a Giveaway!

Hey everybody!  I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week.  Anytime I get 4 days off in a row AND get to hang out with Mr. Sweets is a wonderful time for me. Not to mention, Thanksgiving is just a special time, period. :)

I have been out of commission for a couple of weeks due to some rather inconvenient breakage, but I'm back tonight with the new Christmas collection from the incomparable Pretty Jelly.  The collection, entitled A Novel Christmas, is comprised of six beautiful holo shades all named after well-known Christmas stories.

I will begin by saying that all six of these had great formulas with little or no cleanup.  And you know how much I love creator Liz's fabulously classy polish names. ;)

The Night Before is an indigo blue scattered/linear hybrid holo.  I probably don't need to tell you that my love of all things indigo was further deepened with this beauty.  This is the color of the velvety night sky that saw the arrival of St. Nicholas during the Clement Moore family's long winter's nap.

Christmas Carol is a raspberry red linear holo.  This gorgeous polish has enough gold shimmer to impress even Ebenezer Scrooge...AND all the Spirits.  Well, maybe not Christmas Future...that guy was incorrigible! :P

He may be a mean one, but The Grinch's namesake polish is totally wonderful.  The color is a slightly darker emerald with a blue and pink shimmer.  It is quite the chameleon in different lighting...Christmas fir one minute, seasick crocodile the next!  Cindy Lou (and Whoville) - approved!

Poor Jim and Della.  They just got all crossed up.  Oh well, at least Della's new short 'do won't affect her nails. :P  Gift of Magi is a navy blue linear holo with gold flecks.  It's a true navy and doesn't have the violet tone of The Night Before.

I love Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, but I confess, the opening notes of Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy always give me a mental picture of giggly, rotten little kids tiptoeing around at night to peak inside their Christmas presents. :P  But hey, there's nothing naughty about this Sugar Plum Fairy!  It's a medium-deep orchid purple with a lovely linear holo.  Yikes, this is yummy.

 

Polar Express is the most complex polish of the collection.  It's loaded in tiny blue and pink shimmer, which gives it a charcoal foil appearance indoors.  In the sun, it's a multicolored light show in a nearly black base.  It looks as wintry and magical as the ride aboard the famous Christmas train. 

Pretty Jelly's stunning A Novel Christmas collection is available on Etsy.  But, hey!  How would you like to win it? :)  Liz of Pretty Jelly is very graciously sponsoring my giveaway - one prize of the entire A Novel Christmas collection!  This giveaway is for US only and will run through midnight, 12/12/14.  Good luck on winning this beautiful set from Pretty Jelly!

As always, thank you for stopping by, and have a lovely day! <3


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Financial Responsibility, Part 1: Sinful Colors

Hey everybody!  I have been really busy this week, but I did manage to do something I've been meaning to do for a long time.  I made a list of all my unworn polishes.  I feel rather ashamed of myself.  I won't give you a number, but let's just say that facing an addiction is pretty sobering. :P  SO...that being said...I'm ushering in a new series here at my Reverie to feature said polishes.  It's the Era of Financial Responsibility!

Another thing:  you may have noticed that I do not like using typical nail polish language.  I will not use the words "dupe" or "stash", and don't even get me started on "lemming".  Another term I really dislike is "untried".  I mean...who came up with all this stuff anyway?  Who invented the nail polish language??  Anyway, as I always call my terms by a different name, I am officially calling my unworn polishes my never-worns.  I think it lends a sort of elegance to my unhealthy habit. :D

Today's post features two polishes by Sinful Colors that were both *meant* to be a Blogger Made Me Do It post blaming the ever-charming Liesl Loves Pretty Things.  So I guess you're gettin' a two-fer!  First off, let's hear it for Graine de Poivre.

Graine de Poivre (translation: peppercorn) is a mushroom taupe creme, introduced fall of 2013.  I fell so in love with this when Liesl featured it that I went looking for it right away.  I have some close-but-no-cigar colors like it.  Graine de Poivre turns really grey on me, but I still like it.  The formula is very good on this one.

I did a little comparison shot of some taupe-ish and greige colors, just so you can see about where Graine de Poivre falls in the spectrum.  Oh, and I have no idea why Berlin There, Done That looks matte...:/

The other Sinful Colors offering that I just HAD to have after Liesl's feature is Hot Chili, a sort of "texture lite" introduced around May of 2014.

See how pretty this is?  Would you believe me if I told you it's even prettier in person??  Hot Chili is a barely pink-tinged red metallic with textured bits of something and small holographic glitter.  Yeah, this is nice.  I was surprised that the formula was super runny.  My results after one coat were disastrous, but two coats seemed to help quite a lot.

Well now.  I feel better already.  Two down from my long list of never-worns and many, many more to go.  At $1.99 each, these two SC polishes don't induce *that* much of a guilt trip.  I blame Liesl anyway. :P

Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely day! <3

Pretty Jelly Velvet

Hey everybody!  We've made it through Friday!  I am pretty excited about the weekend due to the fact that my sister and brother-in-law are having their annual Marsh Madness Halloween party tomorrow night.  This year's theme is circus/freak show, and the costumes everybody is wearing sound pretty great.  Oh, and then there's all that party food.  My sister is making baby corn dogs.  But I digress.

Tomorrow night may be filled with the creepy and somewhat disturbing, but tonight it's all about more elegance.  I have the final polish from the Pretty Jelly Rich Fabrics trio, Velvet.

Mercy!!  Look at this baby.  Velvet is a navy-charcoal (!!!) base filled with all the holographic colors of the rainbow.  This is one beautiful polish.

I used three coats of Velvet for the photos.  While all three of the polishes in the Rich Fabrics collection are beyond lovely, I believe Velvet is my personal winner.  Be sure to check out my reviews for Brocade and Embroidery and tell me your favorite from the collection. 

I die.

Pretty Jelly polishes are 5-free and available for purchase on Etsy.  For international orders, check out MeiMei's Signatures and Edgy Polish.
 
I can't stop staring at my own photos.  Should that embarrass me?  Because it doesn't.  I'm also totally not sorry I just ate a donut hole at 9:30 p.m. either.

 I hope you've enjoyed ogling the Rich Fabrics collection as much as I've enjoyed wearing them.  Thank you for stopping by, and have a lovely day! <3

Pretty Jelly Embroidery

Hey everybody!  I hope your day has been fabulous.  Weather update:  it's still in the upper 80's, and I'm still sweating.  Thought you'd all like to know that.

Well, on a much lighter note, I have another warm and cozy shade from Pretty Jelly's new Rich Fabrics collection to show you, and this one is another beauty.  First we saw the lovely and complex Brocade...now meet the elegant Embroidery.

 

Embroidery is a gorgeous, spruce-like green with a tiny dash of a blue undertone and tons of golden shimmer.  This polish is just as fascinating as Brocade in that it looks like a velvety foil in the shade.  It even applies like a foil...very easily for low-level painters like myself!

But add some light, and that scattered/linear holo effect bursts onto the scene seemingly out of nowhere.  Embroidery clearly leads a double life, and I LOVE it!!  That is normally a bad trait in a human being; but hey, this is nail polish.  I'll let it slide this time.  And there is just something about the holographic effect that was meant to go with green.  Am I wrong here?  I think it's the reptilian look it creates.

This is not your grandma's embroidery.

AHHHH...it's just so pretty.  No doilies here, folks...just good stuff. 

You can find Embroidery in the Pretty Jelly Etsy store.  Check out all of creator Liz's beautiful polishes.  She not only makes super-interesting creations, but she gives them the most charmingly intelligent names.  No "Leprechaun Guts" or anything of the classless persuasion. :)

Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely day! <3

Pretty Jelly Brocade

Hey everybody!  How was your Wednesday?  That good, huh?  I was so hot today that I wondered if I was going to experience some good ol' Charles Dickens-esque spontaneous combustion and burst into flames. 

I'm hot all the time.  I hate being hot.  Fortunately though, all these cozy-looking new fall polish colors aren't increasing my already elevated body temperature! :)  And have I got a lovely one to show you today...Pretty Jelly creator Liz has designed a trio called the Rich Fabrics collection, inspired by, you guessed it, luxurious fabrics.  

Today I am showing the decadent Brocade.  Mmmmm!

Brocade is described as a blackened plum with a strong gold shimmer.  It's a linear/scattered hybrid holo.  Maybe I'm nuts, but I think that in indirect light, Brocade looks like a really lovely and shimmery light golden brown.  Maybe I'm sleepier than I thought.

Brocade is every bit as rich-looking as its name suggests.  I imagine this will also be quite versatile due to its utterly delicious ambiguity. :D  I used three coats of Brocade for the photos, and application was typical Pretty Jelly perfect.
 

Isn't Brocade gorgeous?  Still drooling too much to answer that?  YES it is!!  

Final thoughts:  Brocade (the polish) shall grace my person way more than brocade (the fabric) will.  Brocade fabric, while extremely elegant, is just...hot. :(

You can find Brocade and all Pretty Jelly polishes on Etsy.  Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely day! <3

Autumn Leaves Are Falling: Pretty Jelly Maple

Hey everybody!  It's October, it's Friday, and it's actually supposed to be in the 50's in the morning.  Things are pretty good.  Throw a beautiful new autumnal polish into the mix, and things get even better!  

What is it about the calendar's announcing the beginning of autumn that makes us want to break out our fall polishes?  It sure isn't because I've broken out the boots, or scarves, or even long sleeves.  I personally start thinking of all the colors of the changing leaves.  And because I have a good imagination, I can *imagine* a cool puff of wind or two.  But back to the leaves...*SEGUE ALERT*...today I have one of the new polishes from the Pretty Jelly Fall Splendor collection.  Pretty Jelly creator Liz says the polishes in the collection are inspired by fall foliage.  I fell in love with Maple, a deep orange-red holo.  ORANGE??!!

Oh, but yes.

It's a banner day here at the Reverie:  I have found an orange that I like on me.  Yes...yes, I have. :)  Maple is a stunning linear holo that has that nice, respectable look in the shade and then explodes into a full-blown party in the light.  

I used three coats of Maple to cover up Mr. VaNeLi and his photo-bombing self.  Application with Pretty Jelly holos is always smooth and problem-free, and Maple is no exception. :)

Is it me, or is Maple absurdly delicious?  Well, yeah, I know maple syrup is...but THIS Maple is crazy beautiful.  I suddenly have the urge to eat pancakes and jump in a leaf pile.

Maple and the other Fall Splendor beauties are available for $12 each in Pretty Jelly's Etsy store.  Liz truly makes impeccable works of polish art. :)

Hmmmm...me and orange.  What's next, a Hatfield and McCoy weekend picnic??  Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely evening! <3

Coming Around...

Hey everybody!!  Wow, I've missed you all! 

I am slowly getting back into the swing of things after my 3 month long hiatus.  So much has changed for me personally since my last blog post...I'm still trying to get over it. :/  I thought I would show you some of the things I've been wearing since June.

butter LONDON Shag - metallic and shimmery and gorgeous and chipped all over the place...

Orly Star Trooper - coffee-colored jelly and white glitter!  Yikes, it's pretty!! Oh, and this...

Zoya Payton - imagine blackberry jam where the seeds are holo.  Yep.

China Glaze Optical Illusion - my absolute favorite microglitter!

Zoya Aurora (complete with tip wear!)

I hope you all have enjoyed your summer and are ready to listen to me whine about the slow-poke arrival of our Southern autumn. :)

And a special thank you to my co-bloggers and friends Liesl, Yadi, Christine, and Emily for checking on me over the past weeks.  It means more than you know. <3

Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely day.