Freak Show Polish - New Tinted Bases

Hi, guys! I've been gone for more than a month, and unfortunately with my extremely busy schedule, this blog fell on the back burner for a little while. I'm back though, and have some really great indie polishes lined up that I'm excited to share with you all. I won't be able to post as frequently as I was before, but I have many a mani to post from my little hiatus - what, did you think I haven't been polishing my nails this whole time? Lol! For those who follow me on Instagram, you will be seeing a reprise of previous swatches. So without further ado, let's get started.

Today I have for you some amazing polishes from an indie brand Freak Show Polish, which I already have a review on their first five previous polishes. These are maybe, if not actually, the best indie jelly base glitter polishes that I've tried! The formulas are pure perfection!

First up is Circus Elephant a sheer, but easily buildable, gray jelly base filled with a colourful assortment of glitters in different sizes and shapes along with beautiful small translucent glitters than shine golden in the light. This polish totally brings to mind an ornately decorated performing elephant. It's an absolutely gorgeous polish with an even more beautiful application. It goes on smoothly and evenly, with no streaking or patchiness as is the case with some sheer polishes. The glitters also disperse over the nail evenly without clumping together and lay smoothly over the nail surface. Shown in the swatches is 3 thin coats, which were self leveling and required no work at all to look good. This polish would make a great layering polish as well since you get a great glitter pay off in one coat.

Next is Ringmaster, a bright red jelly base with gold, red, white, and black glitters along with the same golden translucent glitters found in Circus Elephant. The jelly base in this is so amazing; it looks exactly like a red lollipop - my personal favourite. Haha. This is 3 coats on it's own, but would look fantastic over any red base. I think it would look perfectly for this fall/winter over an ox blood coloured polish to add a more vampy look to it.

Now for my personal favourite of the three polishes, Mime. This is a stunning milky white sheer jelly base with black and white glitters, some long bar glitters, and again those gorgeous translucent golden glitters. This polish is perfection. Even with the long bar glitters, which I usually don't like because they tend to either curl or not sit flatly on the nail, this polish's formula is perfection. The glitters spread over the nail easily, and there was no need to place or fish out any of the glitters. This is also 3 coats of the polish without a colored base underneath for the swatches, but for my personal preference I would only use 2 because I love how this looks when it's slightly more sheer. Even then, there's no problem with streakiness or patches of colour. Like I said, perfection.

All of these polishes, as well as the 5 others I reviewed previously, are all obtainable on the Freak Show Polish website www.freakshowpolish.bigcartel.com in mini bottles (as shown in the pictures) or full size bottles. Freak Show Polish is also a participating company for The Big Pink Box. Mini size bottles will be included in an upcoming month's box as well as a special promo code for specifically for those customers.

Overall, I am so pleased with these three polishes and how well they performed. I love a good jelly polish, and these just hit it out of the park in terms of performance and overall quality. I'll definitely be excited to see what else Freak Show Polish has to offer in the future.

Thanks as always for reading, and I'll see you in my next post.


These polishes were sent to me for review.

Elle, Très Belle!

Let's just feast our eyes in unison at this beautiful pink and gray combination. This stunning polish, made by KB Shimmer, is the definition of classic with a twist.

Combining a soft gray jelly base with pink and silver glitters never looked so ladylike. This polish has micro pink, small silver and pink hex, small and medium silver square, and large silver and pink hex glitters - such a perfect mix! The glitters applied smoothly and evenly over the nail in one coat. Elle has a pretty sheer base, so as to not overwhelm the nail with too much glitter, I layered it over another gray polish. I used Joe Fresh - Fog, which is a slightly darker, more cool-toned gray creme that was opaque in one coat.

The mix of pink and gray is so subtle and simple, and the variety of different glitters adds such a nice visual texture to the nail. I highly recommend visiting www.kbshimmer.com to check this and many other gorgeous polishes out.

As always, thank you for reading!

Frankenstine Polish Michael Jackson trio

Here is a full review for the trio Smooth Criminal, Billy Jean, and Thriller from the Michael Jackson Collection, brought to you by Frankenstine Polish. They are handmade glitter top coats and can be found through Facebook.

The first polish we have is Smooth Criminal, a clear base with tiny square and large hex matte white glitters, small black hex glitters, and large Lapiz blue hex glitters. The application was extremely nice on this polish; the glitters were densely enough packed that they evenly coated the entire nail with one coat. The glitter spaced out well by themselves and they didn't clump together at all. There is slight curving of the large blue glitters, but nothing too severe. I topped this off with a coat of Seche Vite.

The next polish is Billie Jean, a mix of small light pinky white hex, medium dark red hex, with some small holographic hex glitters thrown in there as well. I would prefer this polish to be slightly less dense than it is, this being one coat over Essie - Lollipop, because I feel that all the small glitters of the same variety just look bunched together. I also feel that the sporadic larger red glitters seem out of place, or lost even, in the snowstorm of the smaller glitters. With that being said, the glitters spread out beautiful over the nail in easy strokes of the brush. With my personal preference set aside, it is a well performing polish. This is topped with Seche Vite.

Lastly, we have my favourite polish from the trio, Thriller. A mix of small hexagonal matte black and red glitters, with the same colours of long bar glitters as well. This is a great polish that can be used with a variety of colours as a base (I've used it with a silver metallic base underneath), and the fact that the glitter particles are matte adds just another special touch. This is two coats of polish, and the glitters spread out evenly and spaced out wonderfully without maneuvering. I left out a top coat so you could see the true finish of the glitters themselves.

This is a must-have set for any fan of Michael just for nostalgia, and I enjoyed the polishes overall, with Thriller being the stand-out for me in this trio. For anyone wishing to purchase these polishes, you can contact Christine, the creator and producer of this brand, at frankenstinepolishes@earthlink.net
These polishes were sent to me for review.

As always, thank you for reading!

31 Day Challenge - Day 11: Polkadots

Yes, I'm pretty crazy about this manicure. Anyone who has been a follower of mine on Instagram (@kimberlymaranan) knows that I'm such a sucker for any pink creme polish. Combine that with glitter? Well, now that is a stellar mani in my books.

I have channeled my inner yogi with this beautiful, universally flattering rosy pink creme from Essie's Fall 2012 Yogaga Collection called Marathin. This polish is so amazing, even though I think that the name perpetuates the "thin is in" mind set, but I digress. Every woman can wear this colour; it's girly and sophisticated, neutral enough to wear every day (which I would if I didn't have so many polishes), and just gives the nails an overall polished look. If the fabulous colour wasn't enough, the formula on this polish is also superb. It's opaque in one beautifully even, leveling coat. This polish also dries very quicky for an opaque creme polish. If you slap some Seche Vite over it, your mani is done in 5 minutes tops.

Now that isn't even the star of this manicure, it's the polkadots of this amazing glitter. Cynthia Rowley brings us this beautiful polish filled with tiny blue glitters with some hot pink and hold glitters thrown in as well. The mix of colours is fantastic and so unique. If it wasn't for the hot pink glitters, this would be a pretty perfect dupe for OPI - Absolutely Allice. The glitters are very densely packed in the clear base, and if applied all over the nail, this polish would be opaque with two thick coats.

For the polkadots, I actually used the rounded end of a bobby pin to dot them onto the nail. It was a pretty perfect tool for the job, giving small even dots. While doing this mani, I found that it is ten times easier dotting with a glitter polish than a creme one. It's much easier to control the amount of polish you are applying to the nail, and therefore you are less likely to get blobs of polish instead of tiny, little dots.

So hopefully you're as swept away by this mani as I am. I know that I'll be sad to have to remove it so I can do tomorrow's challenge, but I'll enjoy it for as long as I can. Thanks as always for reading, and I hope you stop by for tomorrow's mani!