Bondi Chasing the Sun

Bondi is a new 5 free nail polish company out of NYC. I heard about them through other bloggers, and when I saw their color selection a few of their colors caught my eye. The thing that also caught my eye was the price. They were $15 a pop! Luckily, they were having a Buy One Get One Free sale then, so I opted to Buy 2 Get 2 Free. This next polish is one of the colors I picked out. 

Chasing the Sun

Chasing the sun is cheerful  creamy orange creme. 

Color: I LOVE this shade of orange! I do not have any other oranges like this. This is a softer and creamier looking orange than other orange nail polishes I've seen out there. What I mean by creamy is it looks like they've added a touch of white to this color to make it more like orange sherbet versus traffic cone orange. 

Love it! 

Formula: The formula on this was a bit odd to me. I don't know if it's the 5 free formula or what? The formula seemed to be a bit waxy and chalky? It's hard to explain, but the formula was different from other nail polishes I'm used to. It did apply thick and streaky, but evened out in 3 coats. I'd expect better from a polish at a higher price point. 

Price: I purchased this for $15 from their website, but since then they have reduced their price to $12.50. I am very pleased to hear this because for $15 I didn't feel entirely comfortable recommending the brand. $12.50 is still high, but I feel more reasonable. The good news is they are currently having another BOGO sale, and in light of the tornado in Moore, OK, 100% purchases will be donated to the American Red Cross. 

Overall: Really beautiful color polish, that alone makes me love this polish. The formula was iffy and the price is high, but that has been lowered. The brand seems to support a lot of great causes and offers a lot of sales. There are things I like about this brand, but there are also things I think could be better. I'm on the fence. I'll leave this one up to you guys to decide for yourself! 

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Thursday! 

China Glaze Fancy Pants

I was hoping after my move everything would calm down. That didn't really happen. My car got run into while it was parked by a moving truck rental Friday night. Thankfully, the damage is only to the back bumper cover, so the actual car is fine. I wasn't in the car either which is good too! I came down with a cold on Saturday night. Our cable box is defective and needs to be replaced. Clearly, none of these things are major at all, and things could of been much worse! It's just I was hoping for a breather after preparing and unpacking after this move, but life happens! I'll manage.

On to polish!

I have one of the spring Avant Garden China Glaze polishes to show you today. I really liked this collection by China Glaze. I must admit China Glaze in the past hasn't impressed me with their collections, but I am fond of this one.

Fancy Pants

Fancy Pants is a blurple with a pink shimmer.

Color: This is a great color. This is perfectly in between a blue and a purple. The color is pigmented and the pink shimmer is a nice unexpected touch.

Formula: The formula on this was great! This applied easily and evenly. No problems at all.

Price: I purchased this at Sally Beauty Supply. I don't remember the exact price, but I think it was between $6-$7.

Overall: I think this polish would be a great addition to a polish collection. I love how it's not a typical spring color, but it's bright, pigmented, and the sparkle adds a very special touch. I really like this one, and I think many of you will too.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Monday! 

Share With You Sunday: 5/5/13-5/19/13

Posts I'm Loving:
Did My Nails shows us her ikat nails.
Nails Beautiqued shares with us her layered jelly nails.
Dressed Up Nails shows us her skittle nail art.
Cutie-cles shares with us her striping tape mani.

Posts You're Loving:
The Nail Art and Beauty Diaries shows us her beach themed nails.
The Polish Playground shares with us her fashion inspired nails.

You can submit your blog posts for Sunday posts here. 

Reader Manis of the Week: 

Name: Lisa N. / The Polish Playground
Location: Canada
Manicure Description: A easy floral manicure inspired by Chalkboard Nails. For this manicure, all the polishes I used are from American Apparel. My base color is Coney Island. For the floral design, I used Cameo Blue, Downtown LA, Manila, Office, and Rose Bowl. I dotted the center of each flower with Passport Blue.
Favorite Polishes: They include Orly Rage, Orly Ancient Jade, OPI Pros & Bronze, Essie Shine of the Times, Windestine Jeweled Sand, and many more!
Blog: http://thepolishplayground.blogspot.ca/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/thepolishplayground

Name: Kelsey @ Polished Prescription
Location: California
Manicure Description: I started with a base of OPI Black Onyx and used a makeup wedge sponge to sponge on China Glaze Sexy in the City (medium blue metallic shimmer), China Glaze Kinetic Candy (greyed out sky blue), and Zoya Shelby (baby pink creme). Then I added a coat of Essie Carnival (holo glitter). Then I fished for some larger holographic glitters in Cirque XX to finish off the look. And of course I topped it all off with SV.
Favorite Polishes: Picture Polish Cosmos (the blue is amazing and the holo in it makes it look like a crazy galaxy!), OPI My Vampire is Buff, Essie Bikini So Teeny, and Zoya Creamy.
Blog: www.PolishedPrescription.com and I also have a Facebook page by the same name.

I need manis for May! You can find information on how to submit your manicures for Sunday posts here. 

Happy Sunday!

Orly Boho Bonnet

Hey everyone! I'm back. I've missed you! Many thanks to my great guest posters!

The past week has felt like a lifetime. I am now moved. We are pretty much done with everything except for adding some finishing touches. We have a lot more space, and I know have a desk area to do all my swatching! Can you believe I had been swatching over a coffee table for over 3 years? My back is in BAD shape! I'm still getting used to new surroundings. Transition is not easy for me, but I'll settle in soon. :)

On to polish!

I have for you today a polish from Orly's Hope and Freedom Fest collection. I really liked many of the colors from this collection. I feel Orly has kind of faded into the background lately, and I hope they pick themselves up. I really enjoy the brand, but I don't think they do so well at promoting themselves lately.

Boho Bonnet

Boho Bonnet is a soft muted blue-grey creme.

Color: This is a beautiful creamy soft color. I find this shade very flattering for a pale shade on my pale skin. I love the combination of blue and grey.

Formula: Great formula. I would of expected a color this light to be tricky to apply, but this applied smoothly and evenly. The formula is a bit on the thinner side, but I do not feel that interfered with the application.

Price: I purchased this at Ulta for $8.50.

Overall: Beautiful color with a great formula. I think colors like this one fit into any season and would look good with just about anything. The PolishAholic compared this to Zoya Kristen, and they are similar. While she thinks Zoya Kristen has the better formula, I must disagree. I think Boho Bonnet formula is far superior! You can all can decide that for yourself though, everyone has different formula preferences.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Paint Splatters

Happy Friday! 

Guest Post: Cat's Adventures in Lacquer Land

Today's post is brought to you by Cat from Cat's Adventures in Lacquer Land. 

Hi all! This is Cat, from Cat's Adventures in Lacquer Land. I'm so thrilled to be doing a guest post for Steph! Imperfectly Painted is one of the polish blogs that I've followed since I first got addicted to polish. I love her warm, welcoming attitude and of course all the different polishes she showcases. So when Steph put out a call for guest posts I jumped at the chance!

For my guest post I decided to go with a polish pairing I love-- nudes and neons-- and do some nail art! I pulled out one of my all time favorite nude polishes, Essie Sand Tropez and then my American Apparel neon polishes and tried to figure out what I wanted to do. Originally I thought I would try a funky French manicure, but then I was inspired by a post over at Karine's Vernis Club and decided to go for a reverse chevron manicure using one of my favorite techniques-- tape!

In the end, I went with American Apparel Neon Red to make my chevron over Sand Tropez. I love how summery this looks with the bright red color and given the sunny weather in Seattle right now, it feels right. I like that the chervon gives a nice, but fairly subtle pop of color, even though it involves neon. It's not perfect, but given that I can't do freehand nail art at all, I love tape manicures because they're so easy to do!

Hope you guys enjoyed this post and thanks again to Steph for letting me do a guest post! If you're interested, feel free to stop by my blog, check out my Twitter (@LacquerLand) or visit me on Instagram (catray).

Thanks Cat!

Happy Thursday! 

Guest Post: Barb's Nail Polish Addction

Today's post is brought to you by Barb from Barb's Nail Polish Addiction.

Hi everyone! My name is Barb and I would like to thank Stephanie for this opportunity to guest post for her! Stephanie’s blog was one of the very first ones I started following when I got into nail polish and I bought my very first Zoya’s from her J Wishing her nothing but good luck and congratulations on her move!

Let’s get on to the good stuff, shall we? This is a dotticure I did using all Essie polishes! I’ve been feeling bright summery colors lately and it shows with this manicure. Here’s a shot of everything I used.

My base coat is Duri Rejuvacote. I’ve been using this for a while now and have seen a huge improvement in the strength of my nails. The base color is Essie “Lights” and I did the random dots using “Cascade Cool”, “Play Date”, “Bikini So Teeny”, and “Big Spender”. For my topcoat I used Out the Door.

I had no issues whatsoever with the polishes. “Lights” applied almost opaque in one coat and I used two just to even out a little bit of sheerness. Here’s a picture of it pre-dotted and pre-clean-up. I love how bright and vibrant this is

And here it is completed. Sorry for the kind of crappy pictures. These were all taken with my camera in the evening.

Well, that’s it! Thanks again to Stephanie!! I don’t have a blog but have seriously thought about starting one. For now I have a Facebook page for my nails (https://www.facebook.com/babznails?ref=hl) and I always post them on Instagram (barb_mcgregor) too.

Thanks Barb! 

Happy Wednesday! 

Guest Post: niftyBA!

Today's post is brought to you Ali from niftyBA!

Hello, all! I'm Ali from NiftyBa.com, and I am super excited to be here! I absolutely love Imperfectly Painted not only for her nails, but Stephanie tackles some tough issues that are rarely discussed in nail blogging. We're all unique, and Steph helps me (and many others!) feel accepted online. It's a tough place, yo! Thank YOU!

Anyways... we both live in Central Florida, which can be weird at times, but it has its perks! I'm not a hardcore Disney fan, but I adore it (the music is my favorite!) and I am lucky to have theme park passes. Just a couple of weeks ago, it was announced that three US Disney parks would start off summer with a 24-HOUR KICKOFF to begin 2013's Monstrous Summer celebrating the upcoming Disney-Pixar film, Monster University.

Three things immediately happened.
1. Whatever 5 year wedding anniversary plans that were in place for that same day went out the window.
2. I went into crazy "How do I survive Magic Kingdom for 24 hours?" preparedness mode.
3. I slapped on some Monster's Inc nail art.

The day after the announcement was made, I had already planned to go to Magic Kingdom. Being the dork that I am, I had to try "simple" Disney nail art (and I rarely do nail art). This one thing was so hard to do! Kudos to those who know their way around a brush! It made for great conversation, and I wore it for five days. My base is China Glaze I'm With the Lifeguard, and Mike Wazowski is made up of Wet N Wild French White Creme, Black Creme, and Color Club Chelsea Girl.

   

 Hope this doesn't succeed in frightening you- I do not have a BA in Scaring!

When not jumping for OOTD pics on NiftyBa.com, Ali changes her nail polish every day and chooses the perfect outfit to match and then jump in. More often than not, you can find Ali nomming at food trucks with her husband, book wrangling at the public library, and hugging massive orange kittens. Follow her @nifty_ba on Twitter, or on Instagram (the best obsession ever!) @niftyba.

Thanks Ali!

Happy Tuesday!