Northern Star Polish review and swatches

*Products were sent for review purposes, All opinions are my own.*

Today I have one of the polish reviews I had promised you. This is a new to me polish company that has been in business for a little over a year now. I had seen swatches and drooled over some of the polishes. I have no clue why I had never made a purchase, but I know there will be in the future.

Northern Star uses a 4 free base, solvent resistant glitters, and potential products are tested for months before being released. Polishes come in two sizes: Petites are 9ml for $6.00 and Full sizes are 15ml for $9.00. 

I was sent TRUSTNO1, Wuv, Twoo Wuv, and Sunburst to review. 

TRUSTNO1- A purple base with electric blue flakie glitter. It was inspired by the X-Files.

This is a gorgeous polish! I would say it leans toward being a blurple shade and is what I would consider a jelly polish. The electric blue flakies look like they are micro flakies and really make this polish dazzle, especially in sunlight. I love this polish and can't get enough of it, it makes a great summer time polish. I used 2 coats and got full coverage, no streaks, no hassle or fuss with it at all. Hopefully you can see the flakies in the picture above, it is really hard to capture them.This is a new polish to the Northern Star Polish lineup that will be available on June 28th at noon CST.

Wuv, Twoo Wuv is a milky based polish with pink, red, silver and white glitters in different sizes. It was inspired by The Princess Bride.

This is again a no fuss polish, the glitters went on evenly for me. I did have to use 3 coats to get full coverage, you could also use a white coat underneath to keep from having to do so many coats. Above I used 2 coats of  Wuv, Twoo Wuv alone and then I used 1 coat over OPI Big Apple Red and I really liked how it came out.

Last but not least we have Sunburst. Sunburst is a a glitterbomb that is a burst of bling with glitters in gold, holographic gold, orange, neon yellow plus a dash of silver and pink.

 

I would call this a glitter explosion of epicness.There are different sizes of hex glitter, there are micro glitter and bar glitter. Before someone says they hate bar glitter, give this a chance, it isn't alot of it in there at all. This is definitely a bling filled polish that will turn heads. My favorite part of this polish is those micro glitters that sit off in the background, they bring something extra special to this polish. I really like it alone, but when I put it over a black polish O.M.G! I think it was a marriage made in glitter heaven. I recommend dabbing the glitters on with this one, the glitters seemed to have a mind of their own and of course their idea of perfection was different than mine LOL. It is definitely worth the little bit of extra work though.I also had to use 2 coats of Seche Vite to even it out.

In the pictures above I used 3 coats of  Wuv, Twoo Wuv, 2 coats of TRUSTNO1 and 1 coat of Sunburst on the ring finger, 2 coats on my thumb. You also get to see my little nubbin nail, it was broken down into the nail bed. OUCH!!! I refuse to chop all the others off to match it better though. I'll probably give in soon and do it. The wear time of this polish was great, I had it on for 3 days before taking it off. I had no chips and no tip wear. The formula was terrific with these polishes. This is a company to keep your eyes on, I can see good things happening for them!!!

You can find the Northern Star Polish shop here.

You can find the fan page here. 

The shop is closed right now while Kristin get all prepared for the launch of her new colors at 12pm CST on June 28th. Ohhhh I almost forgot to tell you about the cuticle oil that was included in my package. This stuff smells so good, it is Tangerine Honeysuckle. I don't believe this is sold in the shop, I think a bottle is included in with every purchase as a thank you. I am having great results while using it. I probably apply it too often, but I love the scent and can't resist. 

I am rating this polish based on packaging, formula, and wear. I can't rate customer service since this was a blogger pack, but Kristin has been a joy to work with. I give Northern Star Polish..... 5 cupcakes. 

Have you tried Northern Star Polish? If so, what are your favorite polishes?

Peace, Love and Cupcakes!

Tea Stained Linen from Hit Polish

Have you ever searched and searched for a polish that you can see in your head, but no one seems to make it? You just know that it would be the perfect polish and wonder why one of the hundreds of companies hasn't made it yet. That has been me for the last 6 months or more. I have a thing for crelly polishes, for those who don't know what a crelly polish is, I'll try to explain it to you. It is a polish base that is 1/2 creme and 1/2 jelly, the base is usually a bit on the sheer side, but very buildable. Most of the time these polishes have glitters suspended in them and the crelly base allows the glitters to be seen better. There are no limits to what can be created with this type of base. Sounds like magic right?

I spotted the polish that I had been lusting after in my dreams! It looked exactly like I had seen in my head a million times. Of course I ordered it, I bet that doesn't shock you, LOL! 

This photo is courtesy of Hit Polish, I forgot to take a bottle shot.

It took less than a week for my package to arrive. As soon as I saw it I ripped it open, and that is when I heard it. I swear angels started singing when I had that bottle in my hands. (Cue music!) I stared at it for probably 5 minutes and then ran to put it on my nails. This polish is everything I had hoped for and more. It makes me think of biscotti and a frothy cappucino for some reason.
The description given on the listing states- "Such a pretty delicate polish and totally work appropriate imo. A cream crelly base with brown, gold, caramel and copper hex glitters in fine to large sizes; in both metallic and holographic finishes."
My description- A gorgeous creamy nude base with hella glitz and glamour in browns, golds, coppers that you can even rock at the office. Neutral with spunk!

1 coat

2 coats

3 coats

 As you can see it took 3 coats to get full opacity, and worth every single coat! BUT, it is awesome layered over other polishes too!

Top is layered over white, middle is layered over a medium chocolate brown, bottom is layered over gold. All are only one coat of Tea Stained Linen over the color. I really like when you can turn up a polish or take it down a notch by layering like this, more bang for the buck. Though I will be honest, I would have loved this polish even if it didn't have those abilities, it is just perfection to me. 
The polish went on great as usual for the polishes from this company. I didn't have to dig for any of the different glitter sizes, and it dried in a nice amount of time. I did use a topcoat to smooth it out, the texture wasn't too bad, but a coat of Seche Vite had it as smooth as a baby bottom. I wore this mani for a few days and had no chipping and very minimal tip wear.

Hit Polish has a 10% off sale coming up on 2/13/13 that will run from 8am EST until 11pm EST. 
You can find their Facebook page by clicking here.
You can find their Etsy shop by clicking here.

Ordering is easy, customer service is terrific, shipping is fast, and the product is wonderful. I give this polish...

*All products purchased by me, all opinions are my own*

Peace, Love and Cupcakes!

Orange you glad it is Friday?

Yeah I know the title is a bit on the corny side, but I couldn't help myself! The title may be corny but the polish I have for you today is far from corny. So let's get to it.

Today I have a super fun polish to share with you from KBShimmer, it is called Orange-A-Peel. My sweet friend Lynn sent this to me for Christmas. (Thank you again!) She and I share a brain 90% of the time, only she is the nicer part. This polish is a glitter filled crelly. The base color reminds me of a sherbert orange and it is packed full of orange, pink and white glitters. It is part of their Neon Collection that was released last year. Here are a few shots of it for you.

I had a hard time getting my camera to pick up the true color of this polish. As you can see this polish isn't one of those typical bright as heck neon oranges, it is a nice subdued neon orange. You can use it on its own and get full coverage in 2 coats, or layer it over other colors to get a different shade of orange all together. Below on my index finger it is 2 coats layered over a coral color, the middle finger is 2 coats alone, ring finger is 2 coats over white, and the pinky is 1 coat over a primary orange polish, all topped with 2 coats of Seche Vite.

You can see in the pictures that over the white it takes on a more neon look. Alone and over the coral it seemed to be that almost sherbert orange color, and over the primary orange it went to a gorgeous almost pumpkiny color. With orange being my all time favorite color, I really loved that I could get such different shades out of this one polish. Now that I am looking at the pictures I wish I had done a nail with it over a bright yellow too.

The formula is wonderful, it went on with no fuss, and there was no fishing for any of the glitters. There was no curling to any of the glitters either. KBShimmer has one of the best crelly bases that I have used! I did have to use a topcoat with this polish. It wasn't really snaggy, but when it dried there was a medium amount of texture to it. I could see me sitting and picking at it if I hadn't put a topcoat on. It dries pretty quick and has a semi matte finish to it, which I expected it to have since most neons are matte. I personally like the semi matte finish that it has. I don't think they carry this particular polish anymore, but there are a few other orange crelly polishes that are just as fun as this one. 

KBShimmer is an indie company that carries a nice variety of products. They carry polish, handmade soaps, sugar scrubs, lotions, whipped body butter, lip balms, and bath bombs. They have their own site or you can also visit their shop on Etsy. Their prices are very reasonable, shipping prices are reasonable, and their TAT is currently 2-3 business days unless you buy bath bombs then it is 5-7 business days. For handmade products that is an excellent TAT. I personally haven't bought from them yet, so I can't really speak about the packaging for items being shipped. I have messaged a little with the owner and can tell you that their customer service is great. You can find their facebook page here to see what's new from them.

I have watched this shop for at least 6 months and now I am kicking myself in the tush for not buying before. They are a company that carries so many things that I love, polish, bath and body products, and lip balms. Anyone who knows me knows that I enjoy all of those things to the point of almost hoarding LOL! I hope to make an order with them soon and grab a few things to share with you in the future. I am going to rate them today on just this polish alone. 
I give this polish... 5 cupcakes

Have you tried any products from KBShimmer? If so, what products/scents do you recommend? 

***Some products were purchased by me, others were a gift from a friend. All opinions are my own***

Peace, Love and Cupcakes!