Lucky 13 Lacquer Electric Abyss and Stereotypical Sapphire Swatches & Review

Hello readers! A few months ago I got Kyoti over at Lucky 13 Lacquer to make me a slew of simple custom polishes.  What is a simple custom you ask?  A simple custom takes pieces from existing polishes in the L13L and mixing them together.  Maybe you like the base from Polish A but would prefer it with the glitter mix from Polish B.  Or, perhaps you love a polish but want to exlude one of the glitters in the mix.  That kind of stuff!  Basically, you can mix and match from existing polishes.  Today I have two of the polishes I had made to show you.  One of the funnest parts is coming up with the names to put on your creation.  For these too I chose Electric Abyss and Stereotypical Sapphire.

Electric Abyss was created by adding the shimmer from Big-City Dandy to a blurple jelly base instead of the original black jelly base.  Stereotypical Sapphire was created by taking out the moon and star glitter from Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey and replacing half of the medium ocean blue glitters with medium purple glitter.  See what I mean about tweaking existing polishes to make them your own?  I used Electric Abyss as my main mani colour and used Stereotypical Sapphire on my accent nail.  I found Electric Abyss a tad thick but it dried quickly so that turned out to be a non-issue.  (My usual fear of thick polishes as that they will take forever and a half to dry).  There was a slight reflective curl to the glitter in Stereotypical Sapphire but didn't translate to a physical curl on the nail.  Photos show three coats of Electric Abyss.  On my ring finger I have two coats of Stereotypical Sappire over one coat of Electric Abyss.  I accidentally forgot I was doing an accent nail until after the first coat, oops!  Everything was topped with one coat of seche vite.

So what do you think?  I'm leaning towards Electric Abyss as my favorite of these two.  I'm just love that squishy shimmer finish (and I don't have to fight to get glitter off).  I had so much fun creating these and Kyoti was very patient with all my requests.  I'm pretty sure I sent over a dozen emails containing idea, tweaks and suggestions.  If you want a simple custom of your very own get in touch with Kyoti via the Lucky 13 Lacquer website, or you can always send her a message on facebook.  I really need to try the other ones she sent me now.

Happy Polishing!

- Michelle

Battle Of The Purple Multichromes Part II - The Holo Multichromes!

Hello readers! Are you ready for some more comparisons??  Did you catch Part I of my purple multichrome comparison yesterday featuring Girly Bits I Hit My Bunny Phone and KBShimmer Pigment Of My Imagination?  If not, you can check it out here.  Today I have the four remaining holo purple multichromes to show you and you can decide if they are different enough to need them all.

Enchanted Polish Yesterday vs Girly Bits Belly Jeans vs Enchanted Polish Octopus's Garden vs ILNP Cygnus Loop (H)

Right off the bat we can see that two of these are definitely not dupes.  EP Yesterday is more pink toned than the rest and Girly Bits Belly Jeans has more holo.  EP Octopus's Garden and ILNP Cygnus Loop (H) look identical in the bottle though so it was worth checking out if that translated to the nail.  Photos show two coats of each polish with no top coat in natural lighting.

The verdict?  I'm saying Octopus's Garden and Cygnus Loops (H) are dupes.  They have the same amount of holo and the same colour shift.  The only difference I found was that Cygnus Loop (H) was a tiny bit more pigmented.  I think if I had added a third coat of Octopus's Garden then the opacity would have been exactly the same.  Belly Jeans has the same colour shift as those two but has significantly more holo pigment.  Yesterday is a different colour all together.

Out of the two dupes I would have to declare ILNP Cygnus Loop (H) the winner.  It is slightly more pigmented which is always nice, it is readily available and it's cheaper than the Enchanted Polish.  I hope this comparison makes your multichrome shopping a little less confusing and your bank account a little happier.

Happy Polishing!

- Michelle

Battle Of The Purple Multichromes Part I - The Metallic Multichromes!

Hello readers! I feel like multichromes are the new holo.  Lots of different makers have had multichromes as part of recent collections which leads to the question: Do you need to get them all?  I realized that I have a lot of purple based multichromes in my collection already and decided to compare them to try and give you an answer.

Girly Bits I Hit My Bunny Phone vs KBShimmer Pigment Of My Imagination

Today I am comparing the two straight metallic multichromes that I have in my possession.  That is, they have no added holo pigment and give a shiny metallic finish.  On first look in the bottle they definitely look identical.  Both start with an indigo blurple base that shift to a redder purple and then to a coppery orange.  As I was putting them on there was one difference that became apparent.  Girly Bits I Hit My Bunny Phone was more pigmented than KBShimmer Pigment Of My Imagination.  In the end I only needed two coats of the Girly Bits polish but required three of the KBShimmer polish.  Photos show both polishes in natural lighting with no top coat.

So, what do you think?  I declare dupes!  You definitely don't need both of these in your collection.  I don't think there is a clear winner either though.  I Hit My Bunny Phone is more pigmented and requires less coats but it is also more expensive, retailing at $12.50-$13.  Pigment Of My Imagination is less pigmented and requires more coats but it is less expensive, retailing at $8.75-$9.25. So, for about two thirds the price you get a bottle that will last two thirds as long.  They both had easy to apply formulas that dried smoothly and both had the exact same end look.  I really think which is best for you really depends on what qualities you're looking for in a polish.  I'll be back later this week with the remaining four polishes - the holo purple multichromes!

Happy Polishing,

- Michelle

Abstract Lines

Hello readers! A quick post from me today.  I'm sitting at home fighting off a cold right now and have decided that the only benefit is that I can't smell any polish or remover fumes.  I used China Glaze Liquid Leather, my bundle monster BM-201 stamping plate and my Barry M black nail art pen to add some abstract lines over top of the KBShimmer Rollin' With The Chromies mani I was already wearing.  Since pictures are so much better than words I'll just stop talking now and go get myself some tea.  Enjoy :)

Happy Polishing!

- Michelle

KBShimmer Rollin' With The Chromies Swatches & Review

Hello readers!  Today I have another polish from the KBShimmer winter collection to show you.  As you guys know, multichromes are my new addiction so when I saw that this collection contained some super shimmery holo multichromes I knew I had to try them out.  I was lucky enough to receive this one from a friend as a belated Christmas present.

Rollin' With The Chromies is a teal-blue based polish that shifts to purple and then orange.  In direct lighting it appears more teal and in shaded lighting it appears more blue to start out with.  It has has a healthy does of holo shimmer which definitely makes itself known in sunlight but doesn't take over the colour shifting base.  The formula was fantastic.  I used three thin coats to reach opacity.  Photos show three coats of Rollin' With The Chromies with one coat of CND Super Shiney top coat in natural lighting.

So what do you think? Do you prefer the straight up metallic multichromes or do you like the holo versions better?  If you had asked me before wearing this polish I think I would have said the metallic versions.  However, after putting this one on and wearing it for a couple of days I think I've switched sides and become a holo advocate.  There's something about the softness of the shimmer that I just can't ignore.  If you want a bottle of your very own you can find KBShimmer at

USA - KBShimmer
Canada - Harlow & Co
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Happy Polishing!

- Michelle

Semi Successful Snowflake Nails

Hello readers!  I know we all look at nail blogs and wonder how they get such perfect manis and such gorgeous nail art everytime... I know I certainly do.  Because of this, today I am going to show to you a mani that caused me lots of frustration and only turned out... mediocre.  It's not perfect, it's not stunning but it's still mine! :)

I don't consider myself an expert stamper by any means, but I think I can do a decent job.  However, sometimes.... sometimes there is a polish that JUST WON'T STAMP.  It should work in theory.  It is opaque enough that the image is well defined, it transfers well to the stamper but it just refuses to stamp nicely on the nail!  This was my experience with Finger Paints Paper Mache.  It isn't the easiest polish to work with in general.  You know those polishes that start to dry so fast that you can't go back and fix bare spot or streak without smudging your polish like crazy?  This is one of them.  For stamping this meant that it dried so fast on the stamper that I had to be lightning quick to actually get anything stamped on my nail.  No time for alignment at all and it still didn't transfer the whole image nicely.  This polish is now marked for polish heaven (or hell... that would be more appropriate).  I used Bundle Monster Plate BM-H02 for the snowflake design and stamped it over KBShimmer Maybe Navy.

Pro Tip: To make stamping slightly less frustrating, make sure you have a nice layer of top coat over your base colour.  If you mess up your stamp you can gently wipe it away with remover without messing up the base.  Saves a lot of time compared to starting from scratch.

Do you have any suggestions of an opaque white creme polish that works well for stamping and as an everyday polish?  I've had good luck with China Glazes as stamping polishes so I might have to check out what their white is like.  Hopefully my next stamping adventure won't be as frustrating as this one was.

Happy Polishing!

- Michelle

KBShimmer Maybe Navy Swatches & Review

Hello readers!  Today I have a polish from the KBShimmer Winter 2013 collection to show you, Maybe Navy.  This polish was the first one to really catch my eye when these colours were first released.  A blue flecked polish? Yes please!

Maybe Navy features a navy blue flecked base with pops of purple and pink.  In some lighting at extreme angles it seems to get a bit of a green hue to it as well.  This polish was pretty much opaque after two coats but I added a third just to be sure.  No issues with formula.  It was easy to work with and dried smoothly.  Photos show three coats of Maybe Navy with one coat of Seche Vite in natural lighting.

I wore this polish alone but I think it would also look amazing layered over a dark colour.  Also, due to the way the micro flakes reflect light sometimes this polish appears to have a bit of a textured finish even though it's completely smooth to the touch.  I think that's really neat and it's something I haven't seen in another polish before.  My only minor disappointment is that there is less of a green shift than the original bottle shot on the KBShimmer website led me to believe.  It's still a gorgeous polish though.  You can find KBShimmer at

USA - KBShimmer
Canada - Harlow & Co
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Happy Polishing!

- Michelle