Perfectly Polished Tips 245 - NOTD Happy Hands Springs

Happy Hands Nail Polish is a new to me brand and I must say I am impressed! I will be completely honest, when this whole indie nail polish thing exploded I was skeptical. I mean how how many combinations of glitter can be thrown in a bottle? I take it back, after interacting with several indie owners I see that so much goes into. They are all so passionate about their polish. I have been browsing many new to me brands and Etsy and am constantly saying "Ohhhh!! I need that!"

The first collection to make it's debut from Happy Hands was called Greetings From Florida which is where the owner/creator is from. It was made up of four gorgeous polishes. Only one of them really called to me though, of course it was in the teal family.

Springs is a turquoise jelly with small aqua hexes, medium greenish hexes, and holographic hexes; I think I had a couple of squares in my bottle as well. The small hexes really give it so much depth. I didn't have to fish for the larger hexes either! I am not great at applying glitters I will say. I have tried to perfect the dabbing method, I have watched several youtube videos as well. Ah, I guess I will get it one day. Aside from my application needing work the formula on Springs was awesome, I believe that it should be opaque on it's own in 2-3 coats. I layered it though because with jelly polish I tend to make a mess. I get lumpy, squishy areas on my nails and usually I end up picking it off. I didn't want to do that!

Here is two coats of Springs layered over one coat of China Glaze For Audrey

Happy Hands Nail Polishes retails for $8 per bottle and can be found on Etsy. Restocks happen every SATURDAY at 5PM. You can also check out Happy Hands on facebook.

Perfectly Polished Tips 241 - Zoya NYFW Gloss Fall 2012

Zoya is releasing three sets for Fall 2012. It's only July and the fall collections have me craving cool weather. It has been hot here, I guess it has been hot every where but the humidity...oh my. I wonder what fall in NC is like, this will be my first. I might turn into one of those people that has to go to the north east to experience the leaves changing. Anyways, back to Zoya. This collection is made up of three sheer, jelly like polishes. They are very sheer but can be layered for more coverage.

I did swatches of 1, 2, and 3 coats of each polish. I found that at three coats it started to get a bit thick. It would probably work better to do thinner coats and let each one dry before moving on to the next. I had wanted to do a fourth coat but it would have been a mess. For the pictures pinkie is one coat, ring is two coats, middle & index are three coats.

Frida was the most sheer of the 3, there is 1 coat on my pinkie and it looks like a barely there wash of color.

Katherine is a deep eggplant color and gave the most coverage.

Paloma is my favorite of the three which is unusual. I had thought that I would have loved Frida, I think jellies are just not my thing.

These polishes can be used to create all types of nail looks. I have read a bit about jelly sandwiches but I have never tried it myself. I think it is when you put a layer of glitter or shimmer in between a jelly polish. These paired with some of the foily polishes in the Zoya Diva collection may make for some interesting combos. I have swatches of the Designer and Diva collections coming, I am editing now!

These polishes retail for $8 each and will be available on Zoya.com on July 15th.

(these were sent for review)

Perfectly Polished Tips 134 - More Spring BB Couture for Nails

Finally I have for you the other two spring BB Couture shades; Sea of Cortez and Frosty Meadow. Both are lovely jelly finishes that are sprinkled with multi colored glitter. I had a bit of trouble applying them because I don't often wear jelly shades. I tried three thin coats to help the opacity but just ended up with an uneven paint job that looked globbed on in some spots. You will be able to see that in the photos. I thought about it and decided the best plan of action was to either use ridge filler, Zoya's Get Even is great as well as Essie's, or to use white polish underneath. Something like Milani Soft White or Essie Below the Belt. Unless of course a visible polish line doesn't bother you, then two coats and you should be good to go. BB Couture makes very unique colors and the brush and formula are great. If I remember correctly these polishes also have a built in base and top coat. I like to use them with BB's quick drying raspberry scented topcoat though.

This polish is a beautiful shade of blue and so perfect for spring. You can see what I meant about thickness if you look at my pointer finger.

This green shade probably made a lot of green and glitter lovers very happy. This isn't something I'd normally wear on my finger tips but I think I am going to love it for pedicures.

In addition to these two colors and Midnight Desire I believe there are a few other colors out for spring as well, including an olive green. You can find them on OverallBeauty.com.

Perfectly Polished Tips 92 - BB Couture for Nails

I recently got to test out a polish brand that is new to me, BB Couture for nails. These polishes have a 4-in-1 formula and a motto of "just polish and go." BB Couture is free of toluene, formaldehyde, and DBP. Their formula is amazing, all of the polishes applied like a dream and they did dry fast. I don't use a base or top coat with my swatches and by the time I was finished photographing the swatch it was completely dry. They have some beautiful glitters and a green creme. Not Zulu status but you could probably tweak it a bit and have something close. Anyways on to pictures.

Hollywood Junk - a mix of stringy glitter and regular glitter. I apologize for the crappy state of my nails, i chewed them all off and they are stained beyond belief. And clearly I am not a pro at applying this type of glitter.


Blue Suede Shoes - excuse my typo! I edited these late last night. This polish is a blurple with baby blue shimmer. The shimmer is so intense that it just glows.


Karribean Kiersti is a foily blue with silver sparkles. It looks a lot nicer on the nail than in the bottle. If you click the picture you might see a bit more detail. This polish kind of reminds me of the illusive China Glaze Dorothy Who? but I don't think there will ever be a dupe of that one. I'm currently wearing this on my tips and I love it.


Prince Charming Blue - this is an intense almost neon blue with micro shimmer. It's like China Glaze Blue Sparrow with out the grittiness. This one is definitely a favorite.


Erotic Night is a dark plum jelly. As with most jellies it took 3 coats to be most even. I wasn't really going for perfection when I was swatching so there are a few bumpy areas. This color isn't unique but I really like the name.


Cash Black is a simple black creme. It took three coats as well which almost disappointed me. I think I needed to do thicker coats with this one and I didn't. The first coat was streaky, it was just okay after two and amazing at three. I think Lippmann Fade to Black is still my number one black creme but since BB Couture dries so quickly I don't think I'll have a problem using it.

This is BB Nail Couture Cash Black topped with one coat each of OPI Sapphire, OPI Shimmer, and BB Hollywood Junk. I posted swatches of the OPIs in my last post.

BB Nail Couture can be found at BBNailPolish.com or OverallBeauty.com. I believe one site has them for $8.95 and the other for $8. Overall Beauty is having a special right now for free shipping on orders over $35. Overall Beauty has more of the colors in stock, as the BB Couture site hasn't been updated recently.

Perfectly Polished Tips 56 - Lippmann red Comparison

Lippmann I Want Candy is from last fall if I remember correctly, and Stop and Stare is from this fall's collection. My first thought when I opened Stop and Stare was wow this looks similar to the other jelly red that I'm not crazy about. In the bottle they are very similar but on the nail IWC is very sheer. Stop and Stare can be mostly opaque in 3 coats.

On the nail the difference is very apparent. I'm not crazy about I Want Candy mostly because I don't like having a visible polish line. I love Lippmann polishes though so I will keep it and maybe one day I will love it.

Perfectly Polished Tips 54 - NARS Zulu

I'm sure you all remember the image above from the 2007 Holiday Sephora catalog. Everyone went crazy asking what nail polish the model was wearing. She is wearing Zulu, a forest green jelly from NARS. From what I understand Zulu was discontinued and the re-released for a limited time only. The polish was a Sephora exclusive as well. Shortly after it was released maddness ensued. Everyone wanted a bottle of Zulu. Scaplers on the bay of evil got wind of this hot product and jacked up the price. It's gone for close to $80, that could be for a partially used bottle too.

Quite a few people have email bombed NARS asking them to please consider releasing Zulu yet again. Stephanie over at The Polish Addict has created a petition that will go to the company in hopes of them changing their mind. If you have a free second please sign the petition by clicking here. You can even email NARS if you'd like.

Stephanie also created some buttons for people to add to their blogs, website, or whatever else they may have. You can check out the rest of them over on her blog. So let's help support Steph and her quest to bring back Zulu!

Perfectly Polished Tips 31 - Lippmann Collection for Fall

Before I start I just want to apologize for the messiness of these swatches. From wearing so many vampies I have a stain on my middle finger which is very apparent in these. I was rushing because I had a couple of free minutes, but then my two year old joined in. So it was a race to get the polish on & photographed before he could get his fingers in. I will take better pictures of these soon, I just wanted to share them.

(l-r) Rhapsody in White, Stop & Stare, Pump Up the Jam, Fade to Black

from Lippmann- "The quick drying formulas contain Green Tea Extracts and Protein Building Biotin, which work together to give you strong, healthy nails."

I had no idea what the polishes contained but honestly these polishes are my favorite. I wish they had a few funkier colors. Maybe more shimmery blues, purples, and greens. I am still dying to get my hands on last spring's collection. One day! On to the pictures, each is two coats with no base or top coat.

Rhapsody in White

A frost white that pays tribute to the 60's with it's retro look. Named for Love Unlimited Orchestra's classic song, Rhapsody in White is truly a far out color.

This is a pretty color, I don't like the visible brush strokes though. I believe if you put a coat of quick dry top coat on as a base coat it is suppose to cure that. I have yet to try it though. The picture is pretty true to life, it's a white with a little bit of silver.

Stop and Stare
A strikingly vibrant red inspired by the rich colors seen on the runways. Named for OneRepublic's chart-topping tune, the gorgeous hue will become your fall staple.

This picture sucks and again I apologize. This polish is much more pink my camera kind of made it have an orange undertone. This is two coats and I still have a VPL, since it's a jelly I think the VPL will be there no matter what. This reminds me of Lippmann's I Want Candy, I'm going to have to compare the two.

Fade to Black
The perfect little black polis that made its runway debut at the Zac Posen fall show. The lacquered shine makes this nail color stand apart from the rest and is named for the Dire Straits tune that Deborah Lippmann covered on her Vinyl album.

This is my favorite color from the collection. I know you are probably saying it's just black. That it may be but wearing it just made me feel chic and sexy. It's a one coater which I always love and is so glossy even before applying a top coat. I have had other black cremes but I always shyed away from wearing them in fear of being "goth". I didn't feel goth at all when wearing this polish. I love that these fall collections are really making me branch out.

Pump Up the Jam
A shimmery version of fall's hottest hue, purple, named for the difinitive party hit.

This picture is pretty bad too, it is more purple in real life. It's very blackened with a hint of brown which makes it difficult to even see that it is purple. I was lemming this all summer but when I finally got it and put it on I was dissapointed. I'm not too sure what I expected but this was not it. Maybe I can tweak it a bit. This polish too was a one coater and it does contain some awesome shimmer.

Lippmann Collection retail for $15 and can be found at Barney's New York, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Bath and Body Works Flagship stores, or online at www.lippmanncollection.com.

special thanks to Lippmann Collection

Perfectly Polished Tips 20 - Misa Neons Swatches & Bottle Shots

The amazing Love8Brain from MUA has ever so kindly allowed me to post her pictures of the Misa Neon Collection. Up first bottle shots, Eve's post with these pictures can be found here.

Hot People Like You, Let's Go Green, Pour Me Something Tall & Strong

Six Pack Summer, A Sunny Smile Makes Me Go Wild

Bikini With A Martini, Lather Rinse Repeat, Happy Happy

Sandals Flip Flops and Hip Hop, Girls Night Out, Ready Set Sunshine

Now swatches- These are 2-3 coats over Milani Soft White, you can check out Eve's posts for more information & more pictures. She said that most of these have a jelly finish which is exciting.

Pour Me Something Tall & Strong
this post can be found here.


Hot People Like You
this post can be found here.


Girls Night Out
this post can be found here.


Bikini With A Martini
this post can be found here.

I will add more swatches when Eve does. Again thanks so much to Eve for allowing me to share her photos! Swatches of the greens and yellows can be found over at The NailPhile.