MDJ Creations Holo Top Coat

“When I set a glass prism on a windowsill and allow the sun to flood through it, a spectrum of colors dances on the floor. What we call "white" is a rainbow of colored rays packed into a small space. The prism sets them free. Love is the white light of emotion.”

- Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of Love

Polish Information: Above, I am showing MDJ Creations Cascading Holo Top Coat over Zoya Charisma (2 thick coats), which I consider to be an orchid shade (since as we all know, Pantone named Orchid as 2014's color of the year!). The main problem with holo top coats is that they will silver out any color you put them over. The way to get around this is to use a very thin coat, so you get the holo without all the silvering. Therefore, the holo top coat needs to have a balanced amount of spectraflair pigment, which is somewhat hard to do (I've had really bad luck with holo top coats in the past). Luckily, MDJ Creations has found this balance, and one thin coat of her Cascading Holo Top Coat over any color gives the desired holo effect without silvering the color out! It applied easily and smoothly- one thin coat is all it needs!

Zoya Charisma- 2 thick coats by itself indoors

Indoors, no flash

Indoors with flash

Outdoors in shade (no holo reflection, so you can see the pigment)

Indoors, no flash

Indoors, no flash

WHAT? Second color?? Yes, I decided to try the Cascading Holo Top Coat over Zoya Bevin (2 coats) just to show what it looks like over a second color. Again, one thin coat of the holo top coat over the color gave it that holo flair without silvering it out!

Indoors, no flash with bottle comparison to see silvering (or lack thereof)

Indoors, no flash

Indoors with flash

Indoors with flash

Indoors, no flash

Final thoughts: This is a beautiful holo top coat and gives just the amount of spectraflair you need to turn any color into a holographic- without making it a shade of silver. Application was smooth and easy, no pro techniques needed!

If you want your own, please check out MDJ Creations on facebook, or go straight to her etsy store here! As a note, this polish was purchased by me at a discount for my honest review.

MDJ Creations Tropical Heat

“Nights and days came and passed

And summer and winter

and the rain.

And it was good to be a little Island.

A part of the world

and a world of its own

All surrounded by the bright blue sea.”

- Margaret Wise Brown, The Little Island

Polish Information: This polish is MDJ Creations Tropical Heat. It's a hot orangy pink jelly with many small silvery glitters. It was pretty sheer, so I layered 2 coats of it over 2 coats Zoya Mitzi, which makes it look pink on my nails! Julep topcoat was used in these photos. Application was smooth and easy. I only wore it for about a day, but no chips or cracks! Anyway, on to the pics!

Tropical Heat over Zoya Mitzi in outdoors shade

Tropical Heat over Zoya Mitzi in outdoors shade

Tropical Heat over Zoya Mitzi indoors with flash

Tropical Heat over Zoya Mitzi indoors without flash

Tropical Heat over Zoya Mitzi indoors without flash

Tropical Heat over Zoya Mitzi indoors without flash

Final thoughts: This was a fun, bright polish- in stark contrast to the horrible winter we've had up here! It makes me long for an island vacation... Application was great and it wore nicely.

If you want your own, please check out MDJ Creations on facebook, or go straight to her etsy store here! As a note, this polish was purchased by me at a discount for my honest review.

MDJ Creations Festival Lights

“"Well, that’s actually quite understandable," Deepak gently returned, "there are a lot of things people fear, yet really the only thing people have any reason to fear is uncertainty. Of course, the biggest uncertainty is what happens to us after this life, which is why we fear death so much. But even death is rather pointless to worry about, it will happen to each and every one of us, whether we care for it or not, all we can do is try to accept it as gracefully as possible.
"This is why, living day to day, my greatest uncertainty hasn't been about death, but whether you will love me by returning all of my affection. I can’t think of anything I would find more fearful or disturbing than if you were to refuse my feelings or worse if you were to fall in love with someone else before you had a chance to love me."”

-Andrew James Pritchard, Festival of Lights

Three thick coats over white on the thumb here (to show base better)

Polish Information: This polish is MDJ Creations "Festival Lights." It has multiple small yellow and red glitters of different shapes with a slight holographic shimmer in a slightly gold base. The base is nearly clear, so it is certainly best layered, and I chose to use a bright white base so that the glitters could really stand out, and you could see variations on base color. Thus, all photos are 2 coats Festival Lights over 2 coats Sally Hansen Ivory Skull (a bright bleach white). The holographic shimmer in the base is very subtle in photos, but you can catch a bit of holo shine in natural light. Application was very good- no fishing for glitters- they came out easily, even from the mini bottle. I used Julep topcoat. Wear time was pretty good- no chips until 2 days of wear (when I was doing hard cleaning/laundry). On to the photos!

Festival Lights outdoors in the sun!

Festival Lights outdoors in the sun!

Festival Lights outdoors in the sun!

Festival Lights outdoors in the shade

Festival Lights outdoors in the shade

Festival Lights indoors with a flash, close up to show the base/holo shimmer

Final thoughts: This one was fun to play around with. I think in the future, putting it over a gold color would also be very pretty, as the base is light and this would make it stand out more. Wear was pretty good and application was great!

If you want your own, please check out MDJ Creations on facebook, or go straight to her etsy store here! As a note, this polish was purchased by me at a discount for my honest review.

Literary Lacquers Thermodynamics

"Ever since I was eight years old, I "borrowed" my mom's make up and nail polish. By the age of eleven, I was already crushing and mixing eye shadows into my own custom lacquers (sorry mom), so when it was time to do a Blogger collaboration shade with Literary Lacquers, I couldn't have been happier. Growing up, I recall wearing 2 to 3 different manicures in a day, and people thought I was crazy; and I still do it now when I have the time. I started taking NOTD pictures a couple of years ago, as a way of making them last a bit longer, and this is how my blog started. When I am not blogging, I am a scientist, although I daydream about nail polish all day; and constantly look at my glittery nails under the latex gloves when I'm working in the lab. Last month, Amy asked me what kind of books I read, and I was sitting at my desk thinking science books. I looked over at the pile next to me and thought: Chemistry, Physics and Biology books? It's really all I read now. Among the many scientific topics that I can read about for hours, is Energy and Work. I am fascinated by the concept of Entropy (disorder), which is one that Amy can relate to, especially after a long night of mixing. A few weeks ago, Amy sent me a picture of a prototype, which encompassed Heat and Entropy. I told her "Can you add iridescent blue micro-glitter? I see some blue flecks! Expand on that, as they say in the literary world", and she did! She worked her magic, and tested the lacquer for wear and staining. She sent me more pictures, and I was in love with the final result. That is how Thermodynamics was born."

-Alex's paragraph about this polish from Literary Lacquers' Community Collection

Polish Information: This beauty is Literary Lacquers Thermodynamics. It's a HOT pink jelly with blue, purple, and pink microglitters/shimmers. As a jelly, it looked pretty solid in the bottle, so I decided to bravely paint it on sans undies. It took me 7 thick coats to get the coverage you see in these photos. I probably could have used some more for fuller coverage. As for wear, on day three, only one tiny chip in one nail, so pretty good! Please forgive the bad nail art. I saw pink, and I thought VALENTINE'S NAILS! I was determined to get some nail art on there. This is actually a final nail art ditch attempt (you don't even want to see its predecessors), as the others were truly terrible. This one was simple enough that I figured I could keep it (and I had already removed enough polish for the day). It also shows you what Thermodynamics would look like with a white polish undie (here- Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Ivory Skull)- white really makes the pink pop!! I used Julep's top and base coats. On to the picspam...

Thermodynamics- indoors, no flash

Thermodynamics- indoors with flash

Thermodynamics- outdoors in the sun

Thermodynamics- outdoors in the sun

Thermodynamics- indoors without flash

Thermodynamics- indoors without flash

Thermodynamics- outdoors in the shade

Final thoughts: This was a fun and beautiful polish with a few layers to it, with the microglitters/shimmers! I really enjoyed wearing it. If you want the color to pop more, I suggest light-colored undies! Wear time was great. If you'd like your own, check out Literary Lacquers on facebook here or go to her shop here. Please note that this polish was sent to me for being a part of the community collection and for my honest review.