Revlon's Bewitching

Hey guys!

I've got another great polish for you guys today!  This is the one I wore under Benedict :)

Bewitching is a gorgeous berry shade, it's absolutely perfect for fall!  I got it in a huge Kmart closing out sale, for just $2.99 Ironic, the only Revlon polishes left were all in the red family...I guess people just aren't feeling red this season?  Who knows.  I definitely am!  Here's a bottle shot below~

For swatches and a review click below!

Lyn B Designs' Benedict!

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the lack of weekend posts, time got away from me!

But today I have a gorgeous polish to show you guys sent from Jenna at Lyn B Designs!  This polish is called Benedict~

Here's some bottle shots, but here's the thing.  I live in Oregon and our natural light is pretty much gone, so I'm now going to be taking pictures under a light with more of a blue tone.  I've experimented with different ones and this is the lighting I find matches the color most truly.

If you want to see swatches and a review click below!

China Glaze's Peachy Keen!

Hi everyone!

Did anybody guess the color from my twitter?  It's China Glaze's Peachy Keen!  It's from an older collection called Up And Away which coincidentally I am now obsessed with.  I purchased this polish, Lemon Fizz, Light As Air, and Four Leaf Clover and honestly I plan to purchase the whole collection.  The bright yellow from the collection is next on my list, but unfortunately I am not on the polish market for a while!  But, good news is I have a few different Indie polish brands sending me some goodies to swatch and review for you guys!  One of them is even a sneak peek at an upcoming collection, get excited!

So Peachy Keen, here's the bottle shots!

Peachy Keen in the shade

Peachy Keen in direct sunlight

To see the rest of the swatches and review click below!

China Glaze Man Hunt!

Hi guys!

Happy middle of the week!  If you follow me on twitter then you know that I skipped yesterday's posting because I forgot to take Sunday off!  Trying to get onto a good schedule, but my life is crazy right now.  I'm moving into the dorm on Saturday and it's just quite stressful!

But today I have an absolutely gorgeous polish for you guys!  I'm pretty sure this one would be qualified as a jelly, it's Man Hunt by China Glaze.  It's from their On Safari collection, and it's to die for gorgeous.

I only have a shade bottle shot for you today because let's be honest, I'm a hot mess right now.

Man Hunt in the shade

Click below to see the rest of the swatches and reviews!

Hunger Games Agro!

Hi everyone!

Sorry I've been off on the posting lately, I've been exhausted and still going through all the beach pictures and just trying to catch up on some sleep!

But today I have another Hunger Games polish to share!  This one is called Agro!

Agro in the shade

Agro in direct sunlight

If you'd like to see swatches and a review of this one click below!

Essie Go Overboard!

Hi Guys!

Happy Tuesday!  Tonight is the night I watch some tv programs with my mom and sister that we watch every week, it's very exciting~  Such a loser!

I think this is my first set of swatches of an Essie polish by itself!  Today I have Go Overboard for you, which is a gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous teal creme.  It looks a little dark in the bottle and in pictures but in person it's lighter and much more teal.  This guy has been around for a while but personally I think it's a really nice Fall color!

Go Overboard in the shade, there were no direct sun spots today :(

Click below to see the swatches!!

Chameleon Blue Sky

Hi guys!

Today I've got more swatches and a review for you, of a drugstore polish that I don't see a lot of attention being shown for, but I think it's really nice!

The polish is called Blue Sky by a brand called Chameleon.  It's a bit of a duochrome with a change between deep blue and purple!

Click below if you'd like to see swatches and a review!

How To Spruce Up an Old Manicure!

We have all had those days where you can tell your manicure is on its last leg, but let's face it... we're too lazy to re-do the whole thing.  I sure have, and you're lying if you say you haven't!  So today I have a "manicure" to show you guys, a way to spruce up your old manicure.

So I've been wearing Lime Crime's Peaches <3 Cream since I did my review post, and I actually am impressed with how long it has worn with no top coat!  But I thought it needed some sprucing, so here's what I did...

Click below if you want to see what I did!

Lime Crime's Peaches Love Cream!

Hi guys!

As promised I have another of the Lime Crime, Les Desserts polishes for you today, it's called Peaches <3 Cream.  And let me say, I love this polish.

Peaches <3 Cream is a wonderful, well, peachy color.  It has no shimmer to it, it's very much creme with a more glossy finish than Pastelcio.  It doesn't look very satin-matte to me, unlike Pastelcio.  I did not use a top coat for either of the photos below.  It's very summery and very bright.

Peaches <3 Cream in direct sunlight

This polish, like Pastelcio is incredibly pigmented, Lime Crime is known for their super pigmented lipsticks and eyeshadows and they did not disappoint in the pigmentation area.  I used 3 coats to even everything out, but if you were quite carefully covering the nail you could probably do it in about 2, I just had a bit of bald spots here and there but after the 3rd coat it really was gorgeous.

Peaches <3 Cream in the shade

It's definitely a peachy color, but I'm still on the fence if this is really a pastel or not.  Everyone who has complimented me on it remarks at its "neon" qualities.  The same goes for Pastelcio, which was DEFINITELY not pastel at all.

Overall, I love this polish!  It's a color I didn't yet own and I definitely needed it.  I think out of the two, Pastelcio and Peaches <3 Cream I probably prefer Peaches <3 Cream but I also love Pastelcio!  Both of them are colors I didn't have in my collection, and they're both very quality nail polish for the price.

You can purchase any of the Les Desserts nail polishes from Lime Crime's website for $5.99!

xx Laura  

Lime Crime's Pastelcio!

Hi guys!

So today I have a review of a much newer polish!  And it is good and bad, good on the fact that I LOVE the color and everything about it.  The bad is that for some reason I was just having a BAD nail painting day today.  So please, excuse my horrible, horrible job.  I even tried to clean it up and it was just not working for me, I tried to get the best pictures possible despite the fact.

So, onto the things you guys care about... Pastelcio.  Part of the Les Desserts collection from Lime Crime.  I also have another one of these lovely polishes to review for you guys soon!

Pastelcio is a hard color to describe for me.  For one thing, it's definitely not pastel.  It's much more neon than pastel, but not quite as neon as some other neon greens I've tried out.  My friend mentioned that it reminded her of Shrek, and I thought that's it!  That's what I've been thinking but couldn't put my finger on it.

It is beautifully opaque.  I have a lot of staining on my nails and I was worried that it would show through since this is a "pastel" color.  But no problem at all, I'm glad I didn't use a white base, it would've been a waste of polish and time!  

I used about 3 coats for this guy, but really you probably could've gotten by with 2 if you really wanted to.  

The finish on this one is not glossy, it's kind of satin-matte.  It's not bad, it actually looks a little glossy in my photos but it's not in person.  I just prefer a glossy top coat.  I added one later, but in these picture it is shown without a top coat.  

Speaking of which, what are you guys' favorite top coats?   Any good drugstore ones out there? Meaning not Seche Vite, my Ulta NEVER restocks Seche Vite, it is so annoying.  I seriously have yet to get my hands on it.  It's horrible.

You can purchase Pastelcio for $5.99 on Lime Crime's website!

Ugh these pictures just make me sad, I promise future pictures will not be this horrid.  Don't judge me by these :c

xx Laura

Review/Swatch: China Glaze Sky High-Top

Hi lovelies,

Happy Wednesday c: Hope everybody is doing well!  Today I have my first review/swatch post~ While this polish isn't very new I still think it's fun to see swatches and reviews of older polishes so that's what we're doing, buckle up :)

I have China Glaze's Sky High-Top, I think this is from some kind of shoe themed collection they did once but I bought it at Ulta when the collection wasn't new and I know you can buy it from Victoria's Nail Supply online.

Sky High-Top is a gorgeous blue, it's a little too dark for "sky blue" in my opinion, but it's an absolute gorgeous blue, sort of a clear lake blue.  Very, very beautiful.  It has a subtle shimmer, it's visible in sunlight but not really in the shade, which is nice.  I like the versatility of that.  It was a three-coater for me, and it went on beautifully, very creamy and very nicely even.

Sky High-Top in direct sunlight (excuse my need for clean up!)

Sky High-Top in the shade

China Glaze is one of my favorite polishes, and I actually really want to buy more of them, I feel like I have so many Essie polishes and I don't even love Essie polishes that much, well mainly the brush!  I definitely recommend this polish, it's a wonderful blue to have in your collection!

xx Laura

Flakkies Mani!

Hey Everybody~

Today I've got a nice mani to show you guys, it's something I'd never done before.  Usually when I use flakies, which the only kind I've got at the moment is Essie's Shine of the Times, I do it with black.  I've never actually done any other dark color combo.  Once I tried it with a baby blue color, actually Something Borrowed by Essie which I just recently posted about!  But the combo wasn't my favorite.

This time I tried it with a color that's a bit hard to describe for me, it's almost brown like in appearance but it's kind of taupe-y grey at the same time.  It's called Park Ave. by NYC.  It's a nice color, and a really nice formula actually for what you pay for!

 
I had a hard time getting this to photograph very beautifully, the flakies look a little mauled to me.  But in person it was very lovely!  It was something that was neutral but sort of jazzed up at the same time.  I don't think this would be very inappropriate for work or school at all if you factor that sort of thing into your nails.

xx Laura

Butter London with OPI Crackle!

Hey guys~

Today I have another manicure to share with you guys!  This time I was looking for something with a little more, I don't know... sophistication I suppose.  Something a little more "grown up."  I've been going to a couple of different interviews lately and I wanted something a little more fancy looking.  And when I think fancy nail polish, and maybe this is just me, but I usually think about Butter London.

I don't own many Butter polishes, in fact I only own one.  And it was a gift... let's be honest, I'm too cheap to fork out $15 for a polish...that's like almost two China Glaze, or two OPI.  But I have been eyeing Disco Biscuit lately so I might have to, against my own will, pick that little puppy up...

But the one Butter polish I do own is Yummy Mummy.  It's gorgeous, it's a nice beige with a very pretty yet subtle shimmer to it.  It's very nice, but to be honest I don't see a noticeable difference between this formula and any other $8 polish formula.  So for me, a Butter color has to be really special for me to even THINK about forking over the extra cash.

So here's my final result!  Actually, this mani started out as purely Yummy Mummy, and it was nice.  But I felt like it needed a little oomph, so I jazzed it up with an OPI Black Crackle accent nail.  I think the end result was really nice, I'm a sucker for a beige and black color scheme anyway.  Apologies for the not so super fabulous picture quality, I'm trying to find the perfect lighting in my house to take nail pictures in because since I live in Oregon, it may be sunny for the moment but I never know how long that will last.  And it definitely won't be like this in say, a month.  Since I plan to ride this blog out for definitely longer than that I have to find some new alternatives to outside!  

xx Laura 

Cotton Candy Nails!

Hey guys~

So it's summer, but I was never one of those girls who painted their nails based on the season.  I love spring nail polish but I'll be just as inclined to rock it in the summer as I would be in the spring!

I was trying to decide how to paint my nails recently.  And I was looking at my little stash of polishes and I spotted Pink Friday from the Nicki Minaj OPI collection, this is one of my all time favorites.  And then I saw Something Borrowed by Essie and I thought, oh my god baby pink and baby blue, perfect.  I actually thought the manicure might turn out a little too Baby Shower looking, but it didn't at all.  A friend of mine said it looked like cotton candy!

I did what I'm going to call a reverse tip~  It turned out really nice I think!  I don't usually do a lot of tip designs because let's be honest your dominant hand always ends up looking worse than your non dominant hand, at least in my case.  But this one didn't turn out too bad.  It needs a little bit of clean up but I'm lazy about that -.-

Overall, I found this manicure very refreshing.  I've actually used a lot of neons lately, lots of neon greens and pinks, and it was nice to have something a little cooler in tone and I absolutely love these colors!  Pink Friday is seriously one of my all time faves and paired with Something Borrowed it really hit the spot.

xx Laura

Hiiii~

Hi everybody~

Welcome to Pictures && Polish!  I suppose I should introduce myself, I'm Laura.  I'm 18, and I routinely stalk several polish blogs at least once a day, and I'm obsessed with nail polish and painting my nails...so I thought I'd venture out into the nail polish blogging world c:
I was trying to think of some unique names for this thing, and I was drawing a blank.  But then I was thinking about my love for photography and, while I don't consider myself even an amateur photographer by any stretch, it would be nice to have somewhere to put a few shots other than the increasingly popular Instagram.  So I thought, Pictures && Polish, perfect.  Alliteration!  Everyone loves alliteration~  So the blog that you're looking at won't solely be nail polish oriented, but it will from time to time include some "photography."  I will have lots of swatches and reviews for you though, because like I said, I am nail polish obsessed and I can't seem to stop painting my nails.
I hope I can lure in a few other nail polish addicts, like myself, and maybe even a few newbies.  Everyone should know the love of a freshly painted manicure, *swoon*.

xx Laura