Echoes Polish Swatches... Round 2!

Today, I have the final three swatches from my Echoes Polish haul! I ordered a mystery bag as well, which is an awesome bargain. You even get to select your colour preferences when you purchase, and I left a note that I don't really like dark colours. They hit the nail right on the head and picked out 3 awesome shades for me!

This is Life is a Caberet holo polish. Even with my fancy new lightbox, indoor lighting wasn't doing this beauty any justice... so I took it outside!

The holographic shimmer just blew me away. Gorgeous! I didn't have any holos in my collection so I was super excited to see this pinky-red polish in the bag. I think this is two coats... possibly three! (I recommend clicking the pic to enlarge and check it out in all it's sparkly glory!)

I also received a thermal, Fracken, with the mystery bag. It has light pink base tone in heat and room temp, and it darkened a few subtle shades in cold water. I had a hard time capturing the thermal effect, it was pretty subtle. But the shade is gorgeous, soft and shimmery regardless!

This is after dipping my nails in cold water... you can see a hint of the colour change at the tips.

And finally (best for last!) Holo Cow- Look at That Topcoat. This is pure holographic amazingness. I showed it over Spearmint Away, and on it's own on the accent nail. This is two coats. It creates a great linear holo effect and I can't wait to use this to make my favourite shades into holos! It's a beaut and I definitely recommend this one.

Would you ever buy a mystery bag or are you picky about your polishes?

xo Shawna

Echoes Polish Indie Swatches

Today, I have my first swatch post for you! I've been wanting to purchase some indie polishes since I got into this whole nail art thing more seriously, but found the shipping costs a little bit prohibitive. So, I decided the more I bought, the better the value ;) I wanted my first few indie purchases to support Canadian, so I placed orders with Echoes Polish and My True Love Creations! Both orders came super quickly, and I received them in less than a week. Today, I'm swatching some of my new polishes from Echoes Polish!

Pink Freud, Barely There, Spearmint-Away, Life is a Caberet, and Fracken.

I'll get right to the swatches. I chose two shades from the "I'm Pretty Neutral" Collection, Barely There and Spearmint-Away, and a jelly shade, Pink Freud. 

Barely there is the perfect name for this gorgeous, light sheer nude shimmer. I had seen this collection swatched over a white base, so I showed that on the accent nail. As a stand alone, this would be a perfect French mani topper or for something really simple and classy. For a bit of pop I love it over the white base! This is two coats. 

Spearmint-Away is a lovely sheer green shimmer. This is 3 coats, which gave it a more opaque look. I really love this colour and think it's perfect for fall. It will also really pop over a white base!

This is Pink Frued, a lovely raspberry hued jelly. This is shown with 3 coats, and would become even more opaque with one more. This is going to be a great shade to create "jelly sandwich" manis with glitter or stamping! I can't wait to get creative with this one. 

I will save my final three swatches for another post... the Echoes Polish Mystery Bag! You can see some of the choices in the first pic... full sized swatch pics coming tomorrow :) 

Are you on the indie polish bandwagon? Who are your faves?

xo Shawna

Pastel & Holo Nail Polish Swatches

I was able to get great prices on a few shades I've had my eye on. I had told myself no new polishes until September, so I ended up with a mini haul today! Now the question is - can I wait until October for more? Totally addicted.

I ended up with:

OPI Avoplex cuticle treatment pack 

China Glaze Be More Pacific 

China Glaze Fairy Dust

OPI Mod About You

Minis: Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat and CND Solar Oil

Finger Paints Striping Polish: Ch-art-coal Black & Hip Hip Hue-Ray 

Onto the swatches! 

First up... Mod About You. I was searching for a dupe for my favourite pink polish, panda-monium pink (as seen in my romantic stripes & sparkles mani). 

The formula was a little thick, so after two coats it was mostly opaque but slightly streaky in a few areas. I smoothed it out with a Ciate top coat. I love the colour - I've been wanting a true pastel pink for my collection and this definitely fits the bill. As for a panda-monium pink dupe, it's close but not quite there. PMP has a blue undertone giving it a slight lavender hue. 

Another polish that has been on my list is a Be More Pacific. To be honest the colour didn't draw me at all- this one was all about the name! It's a bit of an inside joke with my fiancé and I. 

I'm not generally attracted to green as a polish shade but I do have a few in my collection. This one was a pleasant surprise! It's a light pastel green even leaning very slightly towards yellow. This would make a great spring colour. The formula applied well, albeit a little sheer. After two coats there was still visible nail line, and after the 3rd coat a few tiny bubbles appeared- so be sure to let this one dry very well between coats! 

Lastly, I've been coveting a holographic top coat. After some research, I found Fairy Dust as the most affordable option. I'd love to get my hands on Cult Nails Mayhem, but it is nearly 4x the cost so this was a great compromise! 

The formula was easy to apply and dried reasonably quickly. Top to bottom: 3 coats, 2 coats, 1 coat (and no coat) over PMP. The pics don't do the sparkle justice at all, but you can get a sense of the density of the glitter. This will go into my regular glitter rotation for sure, especially until I get some proper holographic polishes! 

Top to bottom: nothing, 1 coat, 2 coats, 3 coats. 

Overall, I'm digging all of the new colours despite a few minor formula flaws - they're worth dealing with to me. 

How do you like the pastel polishes? 

xo Shawna