I admit it can intimidating to do theme manicures for me because all around the nail world are bloggers and non-bloggers alike who are so talented with stamping, nail art, and free-hand painting! I, however, am not one of those people. I’ve tried my hand at stamping a few times and failed miserably at water-marbling…. but I still like to rock a fun themed mani from time to time.
I gathered up a few Halloween-inspired polishes and a sheet of nail vinyls and set to work.
I wanted to get these up since they are limited edition and won’t be around forever. Plus, they are just perfect for this time of year. Between Halloween and Autumn inspired manis, my oranges have been getting a real workout lately! Eat. Sleep. Polish. doesn’t disappoint with delivering a gorgeous orange for us to enjoy. Rusty Spoons is an orange holo with a bit of an orange sheen, and Salad Fingers is a coordinating glitter topper with “copper, sandy, caramel, matte peach, fuchsia, red and cranberry glitters of all shapes and sizes!” It sounds like a lot, but it works. 
Here in Ontario, many of us were lucky enough to have a long weekend this past weekend. It’s always a huge cottage weekend for people in the city, but especially for my family. We have a long-standing (over 40 years!) tradition of having a huge party at the cottage on the August long weekend. It started when my grandparents paid off their mortgage and threw a big luau. They had so much fun they decided to do it again the next year… except with a different country theme. Each year a country is drawn from a hat to prepare for the next summer. This year, we celebrated Ireland. We all cook up a traditional (as traditional as we can find) Irish meal and feast away! Plus, we listened to some Irish music, did a scavenger hunt for a leprechaun, and played some Irish trivia. Some people dress up in cheeky costumes (like my Granny who wore a shirt that said Irish I was a millionaire). Overall, a super fun, if not silly, traditional.
I didn’t dress up this year, but I decided to sport some theme nails for the weekend. Inspired by the Irish flag, I busted out some green, white, and orange polishes.
From left to right: Eat.Sleep.Polish. in Hot Orange is the New Black, and Wisdom, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On, and Girly Bits in King of the Lab.
This is the mani design I came up with. I used 3 coats of each polish, and topped my thumb and pinky off with 2 coats of Hot Orange is the New Black. I finished all with a coat of topcoat.
This orange is King of the Lab, a polish inspired by the Bones TV series. Read my full review here.
This green was a monthly release from Eat. Sleep. Polish. Sadly, it’s not available anymore, but you can still read my full review here. She released 2 new monthly polishes yesterday, so go check them out on her website before they’re gone!
Finally, Hot Orange is the New Black is a glitter topper filled with different shapes of orange and black glitter, with some holo glitter thrown in for good measure. This was also a limited edition polish but I suggest following ESP on Facebook to keep in the know about upcoming LE polishes… she tends to come out with them every now and then, and they are always fun! This one was great consistency. I used two coats to get the glitter coverage the way I wanted it, but I had no issues with formula or getting a good mix of glitter!
Does your family have any fun traditions like mine… or are we just crazy? 🙂 Happy Tuesday!
When I was in school, I did have a little polish collection growing but I kept it modest and stuck to mainly drugstore and salon brands (China Glaze, OPI, Sally Hansen) because I had a goal of graduating without debt (which I did! Yay, me!).
So in 2010 I was finally out of school and although I didn’t have a full-time job yet, I also didn’t have the expenses like I did in University. MAC released the Disney Venomous Villains collection in Fall 2010 and I was just absolutely smitten with the polishes… but I had never dropped more than $8 or so on a bottle of polish! These were $15 each. I debated on it for quite a while, and finally decided to just pull the trigger. Lucky for me, they were still in stock. I’m sure you know how quickly a MAC special collection can sell out.
This is one of the 3 I grabbed at that time. I nearly choked spending $45 on 3 polishes… but now I don’t bat an eye. Oh, how things change. Bad Fairy is a shimmery red-orange duochrome. I think it’s gorgeous! The brush on MAC polishes is not my favourite… it’s too round and with all the shimmery goodness in this polish it just puffs up too much. And I hate how small these polishes are! I’ve been using this so sparingly to make it last!
Do you remember your first ‘high-end’ polish? The one that made you cringe a little when you heard the total… Eep!
Imagine my surprise and delight when Cat from Eat Sleep Polish announced she was creating a foil collection for Spring. Now, multiply that surprise and delight by tenfold when she told me that she was sending them to me to review! Yippee! Fizzle & Pop are all named after yummy sodas, and the colours really reflect the references!
Let me tell you, I am in LOVE with these polishes. The formula is super creamy, and they are pigmented. I feel like you can almost get away with one coat, but we all know you’ll do 2 coats anyway. Well… unless you’re me, and totally mess up the yellow polish because you’re rushing. In that case, you do 3 coats of yellow polish. Sigh.
But seriously, you only need 2 coats to get these polishes looking amazing. Also, the foil effect is super metallic looking in person – but is really difficult to pick up on camera. The part I love the most? For such foil-y, metallic-y polishes, there really are no brush strokes showing! Perfect. These are available on Eat Sleep Polish’s website, so definitely go check them out before they’re gone!
Let’s start with the pictures. I’m saving my favourite for last… so let’s start with It’s An Up Thing, a pretty yellow with holographic glitter scattered throughout.
Remember I messed up the yellow, so it’s actually 3 coats with topcoat. The rest of the polishes are just 2 coats of polish with topcoat.
Next up is Blowing Ginger Bubbles.
At first I thought these two were pretty similar, but it’s clear they are both completely different. Maybe my head needs a shake? Next up is the orange, Fantastica. When I went to Mexico in Grade 7, I remember having Fanta for the first time…. and oh, boy, did we drink a lot of Fanta on that trip. Yum.
The next three are my favourites. I thought pink and purple would be clear winners around here…. but I was actually surprised by the last one! Cream In My Soda is very pretty.
Crush On You is also very pretty… a purple that really look spring-y and perfect for this time of year.
Mmmm. Don’t you want some grape soda right now? Sugar overload.
Finally, my favourite of the bunch… It’s So Fresca. I absolutely adore this one, and was surprised it beat out my usual pink or purple as my top of the collection!
It’s just so vivid and beautiful and amazing! All of the polishes were provided to me for testing purposes, but of course, my opinions are my own! 🙂 Check out Eat Sleep Polish’s Facebook fanpage or her online shop to order them.
I can’t wait to see what else she has up her sleeves (and on our nails!) Happy polishing!
Did you know Forever 21 has nail polish? I didn’t either, until recently when a friend sent me this polish. I guess it makes sense, though. I’ve seen polish, glosses and other little beauty impulse purchases popping up in all kinds of clothing stores! Love & Beauty retails for under $4, so it’s easy to grab one while waiting in line to cash out.
This colour is called Unique… but to me, it’s not that unique! I guess the polish-namers at F21 haven’t seen indie polishes! It has a slight red/orange duochrome with pink glitter. The formula is not horrible, but not the best either. It applied easily, but dried very gritty and dull, which is very surprising considering there isn’t that much glitter in it! I only expect glitterbombs to dry gritty.
Anyway, for under $4 it’s not a bad polish overall. But you will definitely need a topcoat. I use two coats of polish, and one of topcoat.
What do you think of Love & Beauty? I have to say, I probably won’t be hunting any of these down anytime soon, but I’ve heard they can go on big discount from time to time… so I might be tempted if I was in F21 and saw them marked down.
Nars Orgasm is one of their best-selling blushes…. but did you know they have other products in the same colour? There’s also a lipgloss, all-in-one stick, illuminator and a nail polish! This polish is a mini, so my fingers look huge.
Orgasm is a peachy colour, with gold flecks. To me, the polish seems much peachier than the blush… but matches up with the lipgloss nicely. This is three coats to even it out a bit.
Despite the fact that I adore the blush, I’m just not a huge fan of the polish. I feel like it looks too orange on my fingers…. and I’m not a big fan of orange nail polish. That being said, it may make for a nice pedi colour once summer rolls around again and my feet are looking tanned!
Girly Bits released a fall collection to coincide with some amazing TV premieres – SNL, Family Guy and Bones. Now, I love all these shows, but I’m a Bones addict… so I quickly grabbed the three polishes inspired by the show! Can I just say how much I love Girly Bits logo? It’s so adorable!
Here’s King of the Lab, two coats with top coat. I must say, I’m not a huge orange-polish lover, but I do love the nice shimmer in here. I probably won’t wear this one but any orange lover would!
See what I mean about the shimmer? Really nice.
Next up is Gravedigger. I used 3 coats to even it out plus topcoat, but I LOVE the squishy, jelly look of this one!
Look at all those fun glitters. I like that she didn’t go overboard with the glitters though. It still looks intentional, not like I dumped the entire contents of my art cupboard into a polish 😉
Finally, my favourite of the three. Dancing Phalanges. What can I say about this one? Even my boyfriend’s eyes got big when he saw it! 
Beauty!! All of these had a great formula. I can’t wait to bust out Dancing Phalanges a few more times in the near future. I know it will be on heavy rotation around here!
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