Crowstoes Halloween 2012 Collection

Lauri sent me these polishes to swatch for her and so I thought I would do a review of them for you guys as well.
Sorry if some of these color combos don't strike you as particularly "Halloween-y". I'm at school right now and only bring a few polishes with me at a time.

I've got seven polishes to show you today so it's going to be a pretty long post. Enjoy!

Hell Hath No Fury over Barry M Coral

Red, orange, and iridescent glitters in a clear base. This also has some really nice golden shimmer to it. 

Purple People Eater over Essie Boxer Shorts

Gorgeous! One of my favorites from the collection! Small purple, blue, and green glitters in a clear base.

Bone Daddy over Zoya Dove

A mix of white and iridescent glitters in a milky, grey base. This is the only polish in the collection that has a tinted base. Application was a bit difficult with this one because there are a lot of the large, white hexes. You need a bit of skill in applying polish to get an even look with this one but I think it's worth it in the end. 

Tangled Web over China Glaze Electric Beat

A mix of black and duochrome (blue to green) glitters in a clear base. This one is really fun! I love black glitters! 

I had a hard time capturing the color shift of the glitters in my picture but in real life they're much more obvious. When I was first looking at the bottle I thought it included blue and green glitters but then I realized that they were actually duochrome!

Last Call at the Crowbar over China Glaze Elephant Walk

Multicolored glitters in a clear base. The primary color is a gunmetal, silver glitter. It reminds me of a dark version of all the Happy Birthday dupes. The darker colors make it even more appropriate for fall. 

Voodoo over Sally Hansen Crushed
I know what you're thinking. Why am I showing you Voodoo again? It's because Lauri informed me that the version I showed you a few days ago was an earlier version and the one that was going to be for sale was slightly different. There are purple, shredded glitters in the updated version.
Purple, orange, and green glitters in a clear base. Since I already showed you what it looked like over a purple, I wanted to show a different combo today.

Frog's Breath over Sally Hansen Lickety-Split Lime

A mix of green and gold glitters in a clear base. This one was a surprise favorite. I'm not normally a green person (unless it's mint green, then I'm all over it) but Frog's Breath is really phenomenal! 

My overall impressions of this collection is that they're all really great! Application was very easy on all of them besides Bone Daddy, which was a bit trickier. I've done one coat of glitter over their base color in all of these pictures. 

What's nice about these polishes is that they all have a Halloween vibe to them but they don't scream Halloween so they'll still look nice all year long. I find that glitters generally dry very fast and these were no exception. 

It's really hard to pick a favorite but I think the most stand-out polishes from this collection are: Voodoo, Purple People Eater, and Frog's Breath. 

Polishes can be purchased from Llarowe and Overall Beauty.
For more information on Crowstoes polishes (including swatches of the rest of her Halloween polishes), check out Lauri's blog The Polished Crow.
For updates on stock regarding Crowstoes polishes, make sure to follow Llarowe's Facebook page.

Happy Hands Ditto + China Glaze Elephant Walk

Kristi from Happy Hands Nail Polish created this wonderful polish named Ditto and it is absolutely stunning! I'm not sure if she's going to be selling it in her shop or not but since I've already taken a picture of it, I figured I would post it.

Ditto is filled with multiple shapes of black, white, and blue (stars and hearts!) matte glitters. There is also a gorgeous blue shimmer throughout the polish that really makes it stand out! Ditto was very easy to apply and I didn't have to fish around for the stars and hearts, there were plenty of them in the polish. This is one coat over China Glaze Elephant Walk.

China Glaze Elephant Walk. Let me just say, I wasn't expecting anything special from this polish. I put it in my cart during a recent Transdesign order so I could even out the cost of shipping. I thought it was just going to be a basic grey polish but I was so wrong. Elephant Walk is beautiful!
Looking at the bottle, you don't expect much but once it's on your nails, wow! It pulls slightly green once it's on your nails and there is some subtle shimmer as well. This is the only polish I purchased from the China Glaze's On Safari collection and I'm glad I did. This is 2 coats.

Crowstoes Spam!

I've just recently received my first Crowstoes polishes and now I can understand where all the hype comes from!

Crowstoes polishes are all made with uncut suspension base so they do tend to run a bit thicker than normal polishes. I just added a few drops of thinner to the bottle and then the consistency was perfect. I would rather have a polish that is thicker and therefore suspends all the glitter than have a thinner polish and have all the glitter sink to the bottom.

Okay, onto the pictures!

Crowstoes Triple Black Diamond over China Glaze Want My Bawdy.
Triple Black Diamond was the one I was most excited for and it didnt disappoint! Small matte black glitters with slightly larger irridescent hexes throughout. 1 coat.

China Glaze Want My Bawdy.

This is from the China Glaze New Bohemian collection. There is a very faint purple shift at the edges of your nails when you tilt your nails. If this wasn't a part of a duochrome collection, I don't think I would have even noticed the color shift. 

The color is very nice and dry time is fast. 2 coats.

Crowstoes Bunny Slope over Gosh Miss Minty.

Bunny Slope is the companion to Triple Black Diamond. It is filled with matte white glitters and irridescent hexes. This was a surprise favorite! I put it in my cart at the last minute and I'm so glad I did. It has a very soft, subtle look to it. 1 coat.

Gosh Miss Minty.

A true mint green. Very nice! I did 3 coats but if I would have thinned it a bit before I used it then I would have been good with 2 coats. 

Crowstoes Cheshire over Max Factor Fantasy Fire.
Named after the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland, this polish is filled with purple, yellow, and holographic hexes. This polish is fantastic. I love the large purple hexes. This polish is going to be discontinued soon so if you don't have it yet, hurry up and buy it before it's gone for good! 2 coats.

Max Factor Fantasy Fire.
This polish is only available in the UK but if you have someone who can get you a bottle, then I think it's more than worth it. The bottle is tiny but the polish is absolutely gorgeous! Normally I would layer this over another polish but I wanted to see how many coats it took to become opaque on it's own. 3 coats.

4th of July Nails!

I've been thinking about this mani for a few weeks now. I saw a video a few weeks back that showed how to  make tiny strings on your nails. The first time I tried it out, I didn't do so well. The strings were too large and it just didn't look good. I was determined to make it work though, so I tried it again. 

I'm very happy with my results this time!

The colors are:

Blue- China Glaze First Mate

Red- Illamasqua Ruthless

White- Wet N Wild White Creme

The video I used for inspiration is posted below. I was much more patient this time in waiting for my polish to get tacky and that helped me to get the look I was going for. The longer you wait, the thinner the strings will be when you lift your dotting tool out of the polish (you could try using a bobby pin or a toothpick if you don't have a dotting tool). 

I put a few drops of blue and red on a plastic bag and waited a few minutes for them to thicken up. If you don't want to wait, let the drops of color start to thicken up while you paint your nails. By the time you finish painting the drops should be thick enough for you to be able to start making strings!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5CTNGcFbzg&feature=player_embedded

China Glaze Splish Splash

The China Glaze Summer Neons collection is, in my opinion, the best neon collection ever. Neons can tend to be a bit chalky and dull looking but the shimmers in this collection really help the colors sparkle. Today I'm wearing Splish Splash.

I'm not sure I would technically describe this color as neon but it is very vibrant. The formula was fantastic! This is two coats. It applied wonderfully and I barely needed any cleanup. I think this polish might make it's way into my Top 20!

Striped Tape Tutorial

Here's a quick tutorial for you to show you how I created my taped manicure from the other day. It's very simple but creates a really fun look.

1. Start by painting your nails with the color that you want your stripes to be. Make sure your polish is completely dry before you start. I was working with a day old mani but you could apply a quick dry top coat to freshly painted nails and wait about 30 min-1 hour or until your nails are fully dry. (This is China Glaze For Audrey)

2. Apply the tape where you want your stripes to be. I used striping tape (I bought mine off of Amazon) but you can use regular scotch tape or painters tape. Remember the order in which you placed the tape down. This will prevent you from messing up your nails if any of your pieces of tape overlap. 

3. Paint over the tape. It's best to use a polish that can be opaque in one coat. (This is China Glaze Electric Beat)

4. Pull the tape up gently while the polish is still wet. Don't wait too long or the polish will become tacky as it starts to dry and it might cause your lines to get messed up. 

5. If you need to, clean up around your nails with nail polish remover. Apply your favorite topcoat. You may need more than one coat since your polish will be slightly bumpy where the stripes are. Enjoy!