Essence and Indie Tuesdays: essence grey-t to be here and Windestine Secret Garden

Hard to believe but today's e&I Tuesday offering is my fourth in the series.   It forcing me to get out of my comfort zone with color, to use many indies I have lying around un-swatched, and I have so much more to do.  Did you know that the essence colour & go has several new colors?  I think essence and Indie Tuesdays will continue for quite a while on Nails Actually.

The contenders today are--
essence: grey-t to be here
Indie:  Windestine Secret Garden (recently acquired from a blog sale)

grey-t to be here is a light grey polish with a subtle pink micro shimmer.  The picture below shows the shimmer effect.  This essence polish covers in one coat and dries super fast. I am not typically drawn to grey polishes but I really love the surprise shimmer in grey-t to be here.

Windestine's Secret Garden consist of white heart glitter, pastel green hex glitters in two sizes, pastel purple hex glitters, and silver micro glitter suspended in a clear base.  I thought that the light and pastel nature of this indie would mesh well with grey-t to be here and it does!  This combination has made for a very feminine and understated manicure.  

So there you have it!  Another pairing of commercial and independent polishes colliding together for the sake of fashion and art and beauty!

I don't believe that Secret Garden is still available for purchase but you should absolutely check out Windestine's esty shop to see if there is anything else you might want.  

Essence and Indie Tuesday: essence date in the moonlight and Two Birds, One Store's Just Keep Swimming

I know, I know...my first two E&I Tuesday offerings were full of girly purples and pinks so today I went darker and not-so-girly with essence colour and go date in the moonlight and Two Birds, One Store's Just Keep Swimming.

date in the moonlight is a dark, deep blue polish with blue shimmers.  Like most essence colour and go polishes, date in the moonlight gives full coverage in a single coat and dries lightning quick.

I acquired Just Keep Swimming in a blog sale months ago and this is the first time I've worn it.  It is suspended in a clear base and packed with yellow square microglitters, small black and blue square glitters, and large white square glitters.  Below, I have about two coats of JKS and I had to fish for some of the large white squares.   I like how unusual this glitter polish is...its not what I would call pretty but its very visually striking and interesting.   Not my usual pick for nails but this weekly post is all about getting me and you to see examples of two different polishes and how they come together.  In this case, these two polishes get along famously! 

Its always fun to apply a matte topcoat to my glitter manis.  I like to show you mattefied manicures because taking away the shiny finish on glitters really shows the detailed make-up of the indie polish on top:)  

Unfortunately, I don't see Just Keep Swimming available for sale on the Two Birds, One Store etsy store but it never hurts to ask, plus go and take a look at all their other pretty polishes!  Happy Tuesdays, ya'll!

Essence and Indie Tuesday No. 2: Ballerina's Charm and Slumber Party

 For my second installment of essence and Indie Tuesdays, I have essence's ballerina's charm and one of my newest indies, Lacquerhead Polish's Slumber Party.

 As you can see, ballerina's charm is a dusky pink polish with subtle silver shimmer. 

Lacquerhead Polish's Slumber Party make a gorgeous macro pic, doesn't it?!   This polish is all purple, pink, and white iridescent glitters suspended in a clear base. 

Together you get a wonderful, complimentary pairing that makes a striking, sparkly, and very feminine manicure.  I topped this manicure off with one coat of Seche Vite to seal it all in.

 

Not finished, I used one of my new Color Club holos to make a heart on my thumb and outlined it and the words "Be" and "Mine" with an un-named Color Club purple in one of my unlabeled Ross sets. 

With Slumber Party on top, ballerina's charm almost looks a bit purple.  Fine by me, because I adore purples.  Next week, I promise to change it up some and throw some different essence and Indie colors at you. 

What is your favo(u)rite essence polish?

New Weekly Post: Essence and Indie Tuesdays

So I've recently went wild buying $1.99 essence colour and go polishes and I have a crap ton of indie polishes that I have yet to swatch so I devised a new weekly post to help me along with the swatching process!

Introducing....

Today, is my very first essence and Indie Tuesday and I have an essence polish in one of my favorite colors paired with one of my ultimate lemming polishes, recently acquired.

essence colour and go:  oh my glitter!
indie:  Candy Lacquer Sugar Skulls

First, I applied essence base coat and then two coats of essence oh my glitter!  The picture above doesn't do these polish justice.   Oh my glitter!  is a vibrant purple polish with blue and hot pink shimmers.  It is pretty by itself, dries wicked fast,  and provides the perfect canvas for Sugar Skulls.   You can find essence polishes at Ulta Beauty stores, ulta.com, eBay, and H-E-B grocery stores.

 

I added Candy Lacquer's Sugar Skulls to this manicure and matte glitter overload! Its packed with pink and white heart glitters, white, blue, yellow, and pink hex glitters of various sizes, and yellow daisy glitters.  This polish is a must have if you collect indies.   Its so unique.  You can buy Candy Lacquer polishes here.  

 I have twenty more essence polishes and 100 plus indies so I expect a long run with this weekly post and you get two swatches for the price of one:)  Stay tuned!