Category Archives: Nail Polish Swatches & Reviews

a-england The Blessed Damozel Swatches & Review

a-england The Blessed Damozel is a fierce royal purple that hails from the Heavenly Quotes Collection.

This is one of the deep shades that I like to sport when I’m in the mood for assertive nails that exclaim with a trumpet flourish, “I’m here, and I’m ready to lead a nail-polish army to victory!”

I’ve set my expectations for a-england nail polishes extraordinarily high because every single bottle I own has a flawless formula and incredible colour payoff. (I have yet to wear one that didn’t impress me with its high quality and consistency!)

One look at this photo should explain why I love this polish, but, as usual, I’ve included tons of swatches in different lighting in this post to give you a better feel for its charismatic personality.

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OPI Infinite Shine Eternally Turquoise Swatches & Review

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When I got my polish paws on a mind-blowing number of OPI Infinite Shine nail polishes, one of the first colours I tried was OPI Infinite Shine Eternally Turquoise.

I actually forgot about this. I thought that OPI Infinite Shine Bee Mine Forever was first.

I think I ended up painting my nails with this and then decided to go with the yellow because I was in the mood for my nails to experience the Easter parade. 😉

(Since I managed to take these photos, I may as well share them with you and my thoughts on the colour and formula, in case you were interested.)

Initially, it reminded me a little of OPI What’s with the Cattitude, which is why I was really eager to see how it swatched. (I wore that shade in 2011. I should dig it up again one of these days.) That one’s more saturated than this. Not sure why I thought of it when wearing Eternally Turquoise. They’re pretty different!

Artificial light washes it out, and photos I took in natural light deepened it. It’s somewhere in between – beautiful blue with maybe a drop of green. The Snow Queen would approve, but thankfully she’s off-duty in the summer. Apparently, she can’t take the heat, so she not only got out of the kitchen, but also out of the season. (Between you and me, I don’t miss her. Shh!) 😉

P.S. Tomorrow is the last day to enter my 5th blogiversary worldwide giveaway for your chance to win 12 nail polishes! Don’t miss out!

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Pretty Serious Ichi Hanami Swatches & Review

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Pretty Serious Ichi Hanami Swatches & Review “On Wednesdays, we wear pink!” 😉

Crown your nails princesses with Pretty Serious Ichi Hanami, which is one of the new shades recently added to the Naileontology Collection that I did a Quick Look post about.

Like a time machine, Pretty Serious Ichi Hanami took me back to my childhood because when I was little, I was nuts about pinks, especially My Little Pony types and also bolder ones like this!

As one of those people called grown-ups (YUCK! Hehe!), my tastes have changed a bit, and you know that I now have a penchant for green manicures. That being said, it doesn’t mean that a vibrant pink polish can’t still shimmy by me without me giving it a double-take.

It takes a lot for a pink polish to get my attention, and Pretty Serious Ichi Hanami is the type that I love and would wear again. What’s more is that I believe this shade can flatter a wide variety of skin tones. It’s even better when many of my fellow nailphiles can also enjoy the same colour!

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OPI Infinite Shine Bee Mine Forever Swatches & Review

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OPI Infinite Shine Bee Mine Forever is the very first OPI Infinite Shine nail polish that I’ve ever tried, and it’s one of the twelve new colours in the OPI Infinite Shine Summer 2015 Collection!

This sunny yellow reminds me of Easter chicks and buttercups, so it’s definitely a happy-go-lucky shade.

Plus the name itself makes me smile because I can totally see someone doing honeybee nail art on top. (You may remember that years ago, back in 2011, I did Bee Nail Art (with a tutorial), but I used a vibrant yellow. It would be really cute to paint some bees on a softer yellow.)

If you’ve tried any yellow nail polishes, you know that many of them tend to be fussy, streaky, and quite the diva.

How did OPI Infinite Shine Bee Mine Forever stack up? Is the higher price tag of the Infinite Shine polishes worth it? See the rest of my review, as I weigh in.

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Pretty Serious Blood of Knossos Swatches & Review

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Pretty Serious Blood of Knossos Swatches & Review Hold the polish!

Be still my little green heart!

Pretty Serious Blood of Knossos is the kind of olive green that makes my heart race like it wants to place first at the finish line.

If I weren’t a blogger, I’d probably wear Blood of Knossos for several weeks straight.

Plus I get an internal giggle anticipating someone asking me what’s on my nails, just so I can reply in a deadpan manner, “Blood!”

Pretty Serious Blood of Knossos is one of the three new shades that were recently added to the Naileontology Collection. (I did a Quick Look post on those new colours not long ago.)

A lot of green nail polish has landed at Swatch And Learn Headquarters, so it takes a special one to make this nailphile turn her head.

If you like martian manicures (maybe that’s what I’ll call green nails from now on) like I do, this is a serious must-have in your collection!

P.S. There’s still time to enter my 5th blogiversary giveaway for your chance to win 12 nail polishes! 🙂 Remember to get your entry in by August 7 for it to count.

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Pretty Serious Naileontology Collection (Quick Look at the 3 New Shades)

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Pretty Serious Naileontology Collection 2 At the end of June, you may remember that I shared a press release introducing three new Pretty Serious shades.

In today’s Quick Look post, I’m going to share a closer look at the new Pretty Serious Naileontology shades.

Included are bottle shots, but also some quick swatches to give you an idea of each one.

Later when I wear them as individual manicures, then I’ll do individual in-depth posts.

It should be obvious that my favourite from the trio is Blood of Knossos (the green). It’s exactly my kind of Comfort Colour, even though all three colours are very beautiful!

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FedoraHarp Whiskers on Kittens Swatches & Review

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Created by Leah, one of my readers, FedoraHarp Whiskers on Kittens is inspired by a song sung by the incomparable Julie Andrews in the classic musical, The Sound of Music.

The colour combination is unique in my collection, and since I’ve never worn anything like it, I wasn’t sure what to expect. (It was like a nail-polish Jack-in-the-Box for me.)

From the very first glance, this polish made me think of cookies and cream. (Yes, I have a sweet tooth…just one. The rest have all fallen out, so I resemble a hockey player. Don’t feel sorry for me. Cha-ching! I collected big time when the Tooth Fairy visited. Okay, so maybe not. I have more than just one sweet tooth. They’re all pretty sweet, especially the molar at the very back. Occasionally, it winks at me. How cheeky!) 😉

Back to the nail polish, it also reminds me a little of a calico cat, which ties in nicely with the nail polish’s name. (Only after did I look at FedoraHarp’s Etsy store and realize that she also mentioned the glitter as being ‘calico’. Nailphile minds think alike!)

P.S. Thank you so much to everyone who left me a thoughtful comment on my 5th Blogiversary post and entered the worldwide giveaway! I read every single comment, and each one puts a huge, goofy grin on my face. (When I have a bad day, I plan to re-read those comments because your positivity really does wonders to lift my spirits!)

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