5 Minute Quickie: 17

Today's theme for the Neverending Pile challenge is giveaway or blog sale. I've never won a polish giveaway so I chose to use Lumina Lacquer Man Eater.

From L-R polishes used are: CG Bump & Grind, OPI Haven't The Foggiest topped with OPI Nothing Mousie 'Bout It (untried), CG Thistle Do Nicely topped with Lumina Lacquer Man Eater (untried), and CG Thistle Do Nicely topped with Del Sol VIP (untried). 

I've realized I had a lot of untried Lumina Lacquers haha.

Del Sol VIP.

Plus a macro.

5 Minute Quickie: 16

Texture! I don't have many untried textures mostly because I love all textures so I use them immediately. 

I used OPI Silent Stars Go By and I paired it with a thermal called Dusk Glow by Fancy Gloss. This in it's warm state. 

Mostly cold state.

And in transition. 

Untrieds Used: 2 

L'Oreal Gold Dust

I saw peeks of these textures on someone's blog (I don't remember who!) and I fell in love with them! They were so unique and I am such a sucker for textured polishes that I knew I had to have them. When I finally found them some of them just looked so much like others I had that I had to pass on them but these are the 5 I picked up. 

This is Pop The Bubbles

This was two coats. 

It's a very pretty blue leaning green, and not only is it a sparkly texture but it has the smaller hex in it that I love in a texture.

So I'm always curious as to how textures look with topcoat. My two inner fingers have topcoat on them. It definitely deepens the color and it's so sparkly, it's a toss up, I like it both ways. 

Next is Sexy In Sequins

This one has so much going on, it's got a gold and copper shimmer with lighter purple flashes. It's almost borderline duochrome. 

This was two coats.

For this one topcoat doesn't really make me like it any better, I think it looks better as a texture. 

This is Too Dimensional?

I really wanted to love this one. I did. In the bottle it was beautiful but on the nail it was lacking. 

This one had more of a jelly base than the rest and it took 3 coats. 

I definitely like this one more with topcoat, it brings out the purple more and mutes the gold which I like. 

Next is Reign Of The Studs

I like this one, but again it felt like one that I have somewhere in my stash. 

This is two coats. 

I like this one both with and without topcoat, it's a toss up. 

Lastly, this is Hidden Gems. 

I don't remember how many coats this was, probably 2-3. 

This one also has a duochrome like quality to it, it flashes blue and purple. 

I really thought I would like this one, but the silver hex clash too much with the dark blue/black to me. I think that maybe it would be better as an accent nail or in nail art. 

Which one is your favorite? Do you like them with or without topcoat? 

Essie's Encrusted Treasures

I know loads of people have been giving Essie flack for their Encrusted Treasures collection, but I'm just going to start this post by saying I LOVE it so hard. I saw a picture of the collection before it was released and instantly fell in love. Then I saw swatches and read reviews and was very wary of it. But Belugaria has been staring at me every single time I go to a drug store or target. It's been daring me to try it. I think part of the reason I wanted to try it was to see for myself, I was intensely curious. So the other day I picked up two of the polishes from the collection.

First up is the most hated polish in the world, Belugaria. 

I love the way this looks, I don't know why but I do. I brought it home and swatched it on my thumb and fell in love. I actually did both hands. 

This was 2 easy coats. I think that the key to this polish is to do much thicker coats than you normally would. For one nail I went back and dipped the brush in the bottle 2 or 3 times. It was no harder than any other polish. 

The texture on this is very gritty and bumpy, much more so than your average textured polish. I don't mind, I love any and all things textured. 

You can see the texture more here.

This polish is actually very very sparkly, if you follow me on Instagram (@thejuiceboxlacquer) then you may have seen the video swatch I posted. 

The other one I picked up is On A Silvet Platter. I'm not sure if this one was supposed to be textured because I've read that it is and I've heard some people say that it isn't. 

This was 3 coats with topcoat, I added topcoat because if it was supposed to be textured it really wasn't, just a little gritty from all the glitter. This is a clear base with dense golden shimmer and blue holo hex in many sizes. This feels like an indie to me, I could go to the juice box factory and make this for myself if I so chose. 

I'm really undecided on whether I like this one as much as I'd hoped, it's very sparkly. 

I think that I do like this one, and will probably go and pick up the rest of the collection because most of what I've read about these formula wise I found to be inaccurate. 

What are your thoughts? Do you love it? Or do you hate them?