I've got the Blues...

Tonight I have for you an amazing polish from Perception Nail Lacquer, owned and one woman run by Amy W. I first met Amy through a Facebook group, and we swapped some of my polish for some of her Perception Lacquers. She's also making me one based on an awful incident I had between my iPad and my nose, more on that later.

May I humbly introduce to you:

Perception Nail Lacquer - Blue Morpho

Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?

Close up blurred, I just love that shimmer it has...

Obligatory macro

Artsy shot with an amazing blue/purple hydrangea from Boyfriend's grandmothers garden.

Application on this was absolutely fantastic. I added 8-10 drops of thinner and it was streak free, one coat opaque with no need for aqua base, not dulled at all by top coat (I used NYC Grand Central Station, and after working a day at the comic book store (reading, flipping pages, cleaning windows, handling money) is completely chip free.

I also have Evil Queen (Red and black polish with hearts and diamonds, oh my!) and Unicorn Farts  (Gorgeous soft lilac-y polish packed with holo glitter!) to swatch from Perception, but I'm not sure when I could bring myself to take this off...

Visit Perception Nail Lacquer HERE. You'll find info and swatches, also a link to her shop. 

Tell her The Glitter Jitters sent you!

Short but Hopefully Sweet

A few weeks ago I contacted Christy over at KB Shimmer about a potential custom for an amazing friend of mine whose husband is hopefully returning very shortly from being underway on his submarine, the USS Florida. Shes had a really rough few months without him, and got her family's official orders to Japan next year on top of everything else. I wanted to do something special for her husbands homecoming, as she's been putting a lot of effort into clothes and shoes etc. Shes a fellow nail junkie some of you might know by the name of 'E', she's half of Mani Curiously!

We got to talking a few months ago when I lost my job, and she gave me a few very kind tips for making it through a crappy time in my life, and a friendship blossomed. Now, I'm calling her constantly when I have hornets in my house and to see if she wants anything from my trip to Sally's, she calls me when she's just up to her eyeballs in military/kid/life stress and we play Minecraft. Constantly. So, because of everything she's done for me, I figured a custom polish celebrating her husband FINALLY coming home would be in order.

A few back and forths between the amazing Christy and myself produced a theme, a name, and in a few short days, swatches and bottle shots of what she had come up with.

 Anyone that follows me on Facebook hopefully saw this picture I posted Saturday night:

These are the bottle shots Christy sent me, along with some on the nail swatches of each color. #1 (Far left) was a semi-opaque light blue jelly with red, white and blue hexes, gold stars, and gold small hexes. #3 (Far right) was a sheer navy jelly with red, white and blue squares, red shimmer, small gold hexes and squares and smaller gold hexes. #2, was a mixture of both.

I knew what I had in my head, and #3 was it, exactly. I asked if she could throw some gold stars into it, and we'd have ourselves a polish. She obliged and invoiced me, I paid, and she sent them out through some sort of light-speed shipping service because they made it in like 2 days.

I don't have much right now, because just as I picked up my camera (Useless Olympus Stylus 1010) to take swatches, the battery died. I think it's time for a new one. Until I get back home on friday (house sitting right now) these are the only swatches I could manage with my boyfriends cell phone.

I know, I know, it's really really crappy. I promise to update this post with better pictures as soon as humanly possible. I thought that my battery, on a full charge, would last more than two days, having taken like 12 pictures...my bad, Olympus!

The above picture is, from left to right:

One coat of *MYSTERY POLISH* over one coat of Revlon Royal

Two coats of *MYSTERY POLISH* over two coats of Essie Blanc

Two thick coats of *MYSTERY POLISH* on a bare nail

and One coat of *MYSTERY POLISH* over two coats of Essie Blanc

I can't reveal the name, because in E's last few weeks of miserable-ness, I've told her almost everything about the polish, except it's name. To me, that's going to be the biggest surprise of all, so when she get's her package, I'll update this post again with the name, and that update will include....

A GIVEAWAY!

I'd ordered three full size and one mini of this polish, my intention was one for me, one for E, and one full size for the giveaway winner. The mini would go to a friend of the winner's choosing. Imagine my shock when I opened my package last night and saw she'd given me FIVE full size and TWO minis!

I still don't know what I'm going to do with the extra full size and mini (One full is for the giveaway here, and one is exclusively for a giveaway in a group I'm in on facebook, a group of gals who has provided me with astonishing support through some personal problems the last few weeks, and who graciously laughs at the dozens of stupid cat pictures I post, and puts up with my weird requests, like trading polish for Tamagotchis.

If anyone has any creative ideas for the last two polishes, feel free to let me know!

Also, I apologize again for the dismal swatches....that is so not how I planned this whole thing to go...

TWO comparisons!

I am on a roll tonight! I finally got my cleanup method refined a little, and all the acetone I used today helped me find a really painful cut on my middle finger, hooray!

I told you guys a while back I don't have many comparison posts to do, mostly because being on a budget, I'm extremely conscious of buying things that are close to what I already own. I'm not a 'Brand Girl', so I don't need a pretty Chanel if its available elsewhere for way less money. The ones I have tonight were by sheer accident, but I did want to share.

First up is a comparison swatching of Essie Sand Tropez from the Spring 2011 Collection 'A French Affair, and L'oreal Tea and Crumpets from the Fall 2012 London collection. I got Sand Tropez in a birthday group, and Tea and Crumpets smacked me in the face while at CVS the other day. I'm a nut for creamy nude shades, they're a perfect base for glitter when you don't feel like being bright (as seen in my last post).

Front

Side

Index and Ring fingers are Tea and Crumpets, Middle and Pinky are Sand Tropez

I didn't take many shots of this, as I'd only been charging my poor battery for about 30 seconds, but this is basically all she wrote. They're extremely close, Essie being just a SMIDGE darker. Close enough I'd say that you don't need both unless you're a complete fiend for nudes. Application was pretty much even; creamy, even, self-leveling coats that dried in about 5 minutes (I do slightly heavy handed coats)

Next up is a comparison of Essie Stroke of Brilliance and Milani Jewel FX in Lavender.

I picked up Stroke of Brilliance tonight while waiting for my dinner order from 5 Guys. I hadn't seen it in the wild, so I jumped on it.

Front

Sides

Milani: Index and Ring 

Essie: Middle and Pinky

Essie on the left. Milani on the Right.

Milani

Essie.

All swatches are two coats over a bare nail, one coat of Grand Central Station

Ok, so these are pretty different. Essie has three sizes of hex glitters in a periwinkle color, and Milani has two sizes of hex in (shocker, based on the name) lavender. They are close overall, but not at all the same. The white balance in the pictures may seem a little off, it is, because I had to adjust to reflect the true color of the polish as opposed to the true color of my pale...pale skin.

Hope you guys enjoyed this one! Trying to be a little more active here, so I figured three posts in one night fit that bill.

I love you guys like a glass of milk and Oreos :D

It's a me, Mario!

Here it is! I've waited so long for this polish, I was profoundly happy when I was finally able to score it. Here she is, in all her glittery nerdy glory:

Dollish Polishes second series of labels, as far as I know. 

She just showed us a preview of her new new labels, so these will be phased out.

Backside closeup of the bottle. Depending on your screen the colors may vary, but the glitters are a true red and a true blue, two sizes of hexes suspended in a clear base with....

HOLO STARS! I'm pretty sure this is what dolly was aiming for when she chose it, but silver holo is perfect for a mario polish, you'll see why a few pictures down.

All of the swatches are two coats of Essie Sand Tropez, one coat of Essie Golden Nuggets (I was thinking coins!) and one coat of Mario topped with a generous coat of Grand Central Station (My new go to quick dry) I am so stupidly in love with this glitter. 

It's a simple combo, but being an 80's kid whose first video games were Mario and Zelda on the NES, this hits me right in the nostalgia. Coverage was perfect, I had to move and wiggle glitters around a little, mostly around the edges. The points of the stars were perfectly smoothed after just one coat of top coat, you may have more issues if your nails are extremely curved.

Now for why I love the little nod to the actual game, whether it was on purpose or not. The STARS! Remember Mario's star power? 

When he would catch a star, and then flash all kinds of crazy colors? Yep...that's what the holo is for.

Yes...I sat there and twirled and swirled and watched the colors flash. It's that fascinating.

There you have it, Dollish Polishes 'It's a me, Mario!'

Up next will be the Zelda duo!

Some swatch spam until I can charge my camera!

Some of these are old, some of these are newer. Some are messy cleanup jobs. All of them are pretty polish. :)

Three coats OPI Man of La Mancha. This has the most gorgeous peachy/orange/coral color shift and I could not do it justice with a camera. This is one of my most coveted polishes.

 One coat Finger Paints Twisted over two coats Revlon Royal. This looks like hyper-chromatic fish food flakes. In a good way.

One coat of Lynnderella shapeshifter over WnW black creme. This was the only time I swatched this polish, and I decided it was really too hard to work with.

One night I decided to matte a whole bunch of glitters. This is one (or two, I can't remember) coats of Finger Paint Where Art Renoir, with two coats of WnW Black Magic, matted with Essie matte topcoat. I love this glitter so much, I'm glad I stocked up on it while I could.

A second swatch from my matte evening. This is one coat of Finger Paint's Where Art Renoir, and one coat of Candy Lacquer 'Block party', matted with Essie matte topcoat. I'm a sucker for square glitter.

Blurry black light mani with Orly Glowstick (thumb and pinky), Essie Bright Tights (ring and index) and Jessie's Girl Beach Baby (middle). Topped with Cover Band Sticks n Stones. I took this before 80's night at a bar literally right before my camera died, hense why my messy shot is my only shot.

Two coats of Glitter Gal Light as a Feather, topped with one brushfull coat of Darling Diva Polish String Theory. One of the only bar glitters I own that doesn't curl!

I didn't intend on taking pictures of this, but someone asked to see it. This is two coats of China Glaze Riveting (GORGEOUS ORANGE SHIMMER!) and one coat of Candeo Joker. I was bored after two days of just Riveting, so I threw on something that really popped. Purple and orange are always pretty together.

Enjoy these for now, while I figure out a way to get my camera charged up!