Twenty Seven Polish: Mardi Gras

Hello again lovelies! I warned you that I've been swatching a bit! And since today marked my 300th post, I figured it's a good time to post something festive!

It's no secret that I love Twenty Seven Polish. Lisa makes some fabulous polish! One of the beauties that she sent me recently is such a festive party polish that I just had to wear it to celebrate today.

Mardi Gras consists of Purple and Green glitters mixed with large Gold Hex Glitter. It really does remind me of Mardi Gras and those colorful beads! The moment I saw this polish I knew that I wanted to layer it over Turquoise, and since I was already wearing RBL Aqua Lily, I grabbed Mardi Gras and started layering.

This girl is a bit of a chameleon as well. The green glitter tends to shift from green to teal depending on the lighting and the base polish, and the gold glitter picks up the colors from the green and purple glitter as well as the base color. It really is like a party on your nails!

This is 1 coat of Mardi Gras over Aqua Lily (please note some photos were shot in lower light to highlight the color of the glitter). Pic Heavy since Glitter can be so hard to capture well:

I am a sucker for a Green/Purple glitter combo, and the Gold hex glitter just adds an extra bit of bling. So many layering possibilities with this polish- I can't wait to try this over some brights!

Formula:
As usual, Twenty Seven Polish does not disappoint. Mardi Gras has the usual Indie Glitter thickness, but is never too thick to work with. No thickening during use, no glitter clumping together, and the glitter did not settle at the bottom of the bottle.

Application:
Mardi Gras applied beautifully and covered perfectly in a single coat. I did not have to fish for glitter or hand place any of the large Hexes. This glitter also dried smooth enough that I did not need a coat of Gelous, my usual top coat was just fine.

Have I mentioned that I love Twenty Seven Polish? Lisa has some of the most beautiful creations. Unique and versatile yet not over the top. And wait until you see what I have coming up from Twenty Seven! Trust me, you want to see these!

All Twenty Seven Polish is 3 free and are available through Lisa's Etsy Store, or by visiting http://www.etsy.com/shop/twentysevenpolish. Full size bottles retail for $7 and Lisa often has listings for mini bottles as well. You can also save 20% on your order by using code 27WIN at chekout. lisa ships worldwide as well, just shoot her a message!

Are you digging Mardi Gras as much as I am?

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber

**Items shown sent for review purposes. Please see disclaimer/legal page for details**

Rescue Beauty Lounge Aqua Lily

Good Morning Lovelies! Welcome to my 300th post!

 I managed to get some swatches done yesterday, Yay me! Hopefully I can squeeze in a couple more today. I'm also over the moon to have my length back! Still have a teensy bit to go, but for all intents and purposes..well, I have length!!! *Insert Happy Dance Here* I did enjoy my nubbins, but I do love having a bit of length to my nails.

Today I have one heck of an incredible polish to share with you. A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be able to pre-order from Rescue Beauty Lounge. As you all know, Ji just released 4 previously unavailable polishes for the BiB4 event. As soon as I saw Aqua Lily, I lost my little polish loving mind. My husband saw just how much I wanted Aqua Lily, and as soon as the ever sweet Ji sent the link, he whipped out the bank card and Aqua Lily was mine!

If you haven't heard of RBL Aqua Lily, you may be living under a rock. This polish was originally part of the Blogger Inspired Collection and for so many of us was the show stopper. It is quite possibly the most coveted and sought after RBL polish, and with good reason.

Aqua Lily is a brilliant turquoise with a breathtaking pink shimmer. The brainchild of Kay-di-Kat, Aqua Lily was designed to resemble the color of the water, including the reflection of the shedding scales of the tropical fish in the Island of The Maldives. Aqua Lily is Kay-di Kat's homage to her mother, Lily. What a beautiful tribute to her mom!

In person, this polish is brilliant and the pink shimmer very evident. It is, however, very difficult to capture in photos - my lighting really wanted to wash out the shimmer, so I have included a couple ultra-macros of my index nail as well. The first macro is color accurate. The second is in low light to highlight the shimmer.

Oh Aqua Lily, you are breathtaking! I'm so glad that my husband bought this gem for me. I have many turquoise polishes, but nothing remotely like Aqua Lily. I do really wish I had a DSLR already - my camera does not do this girl justice. Not even close.

Formula:
I was very anxious to try out RBL since it has been said that Ji was adamant that her polish would be perfection. Aqua Lily did not disappoint. I found Aqua Lily to still be thicker than other polish, but with such deep pigment there's no way around that. The thickness is not problematic, however, and there was no thickening during use.

Application:
Aqua Lily flowed smoothly onto the nail and stayed where I placed it.  I experienced zero dragging, balding, or glopping, and Opacity was impressive as well. I'm wearing 2 thin coats here, but if you don't mind thick coats this could easily be a one coater.  The brush with this baby is a bit on the small side, so make sure you pick up a bit more polish than usual. Aqua Lily dries very quickly, and in order to avoid bubbling and uneven polish, you don't want to double dip if you can avoid it.

Overall I have to admit...Aqua Lily has earned its reputation. The color is unique and brilliant, vibrant and saturated, and that pink shimmer is simply devine.

Aqua Lily and the rest of the BiB4 polishes are now available on the Rescue Beauty Website, and retail for $20.00 each. This may be the last time we see Aqua Lily outside of EvilBay, so snatch it up soon!

What do you think of Aqua Lily and the BiB4 shades?

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber