Monday, December 31, 2012

Pointless Cafe's Best of 2012 - Part 3: "Private Label" Indies

I'm baaaaaack! This time I have my top picks for "private label" indie or "indie plus" polishes. These are independent polish-makers who don't "hand-pour" their polish but rather, use a lab. (Thanks to my friend Maile for "coining the phrase" where this type of indie polish is concerned.)  And let me just say that I am a HUGE fan.

Sort of difficult to know which category to put these brands in so they get their own!

Because I went overboard on the hand-poured indies, I've narrowed this list down to my top ten - in no particular order.

Ready?

-------------------------------------------------------------


a-England Saint George




---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

a-England Dragon




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

a-England Ascalon




--------------------------------------------------------

a-England Beauty Never Fails





-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

piCture pOlish Attitude




----------------------------------------------------------------------

piCture pOlish Amethyst




--------------------------------------------------------------

Glitter Gal Belgian Chocolate




-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Glitter Gal Mystic Lake





-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BB Couture Puce





------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cult Nails Annalicious




--------------------------------------------------------


What do you think of my choices? How about the category? How do view these brands? As indies? As Mainstream? Or as "Indie Plus" or "Private Label?" I'm still LOLing at the manic nail lengths. I'll try to be more consistent in 2013.

If you missed Part 1 Best of Mainstream or Part 2 Best of Hand-Poured Indies, check them out by clicking the links.




If you enjoyed this post, please take a second to "like" it! Thanks!

.

Glitter Gal Mystic Lake - Swatches and Review

Monday...AGAIN. Bah. However, I do have a great polish to cheer you: Glitter Gal Mystic Lake.

Mystic Lake is a semi-transparent, very strong duo-chrome polish and I've layered it over black for full effect. One coat over a plain black creme. No top coat. Application was smooth and easy and I had no issues at all. It's a stunner!



Glitter Gal Mystic Lake

Glitter Gal Mystic Lake

Glitter Gal Mystic Lake

Glitter Gal Mystic Lake

Glitter Gal Mystic Lake

Glitter Gal Mystic Lake

Glitter Gal Mystic Lake


Glitter Gal Mystic Lake


And shameless doggie spam...



Twinks wanted to say Howdy!


So what do you think of this one? I think if you love duo-chromes, this is a must have for your collection.


Glitter Gal Mystic Lake, as well as other Glitter Gal polishes, is available at Ninja Polish and it retails for $11.00 for a 10mL bottle. You can also follow Ninja Polish on Facebook and Twitter to stay up-to-date on re-stock information, see swatches and participate in giveaways. Also check out Glitter Gal on Facebook and Twitter!




*PR Sample provided for my honest review


If you enjoyed this post, please take a second to "like" it! Thanks!

.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Pointless Cafe's Top 12 of 2012 - Part 2: Hand-Poured Indies

MY top picks for the best indie polishes of 2012


Well I thought the mainstreams were hard. The indies are IMPOSSIBLE! How can I pick only 12? I even took the "private label" indies out and reserved them for their own post: - a-England, piCture pOlish, BB Couture, Cult Nails, etc. - they will be Part 3. And I still couldn't get it down to just 12. I mean the hand-poured indie polish "industry" just totally EXPLODED this year. (BTW if you missed my Best 12 of 2012 Mainstream Brand polishes post, click here.)

So here's what I've done...I've picked my top 12 favorites, in no particular order because that truly would be impossible, and I have some Honorable Mentions. Polishes I loved so much I couldn't leave out. And at the end, I'll tell you what my FAVORITE indie polish for 2012 was.


Ready?


Enchanted Polish Hot Chocolate



--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elevation Polish Toubkal




---------------------------------------------------------------------

Hebridean Sprite Underhill




---------------------------------------------------------------------

SoFlaJo The True Death




-------------------------------------------------------------------

Ninja Polish Zultanite






----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Girly Bits Fathomless




----------------------------------------------------------------------

Dandy Nails Chilled Down





-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Maya Cosmetics Tranquillis






---------------------------------------------------------

AquaDaisy Shazaam





----------------------------------------------------------

Red Dog Designs The Engineer




-----------------------------------------------------------

Girly Bits Hot Toddy




----------------------------------------------------------------------

Jindie Nails Choose Me




There is just something SO special and so unique and so gorgeous and creative about each one of those polishes.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

And the Honorable Mentions! Yes, 12 of them. Again, in no particular order...



Dandy Nails Moon Glow




---------------------------------------------------------------

Elevation Polish The Arches





--------------------------------------------------------------------------

These next two I haven't had a chance to blog about but I've worn them for full manis more than once since they came out - I strongly suggest you go read the post because they blow the others out of the water!


Ninja Polish He Went To Jarred





Ninja Polish The Midas Touch




--------------------------------------------------------------

NerdLacquer Smoke Dragon




-------------------------------------------------

Dandy Nails Bory-Alice







--------------------------------------------------

Enchanted Polish I Am The Walrus




----------------------------------------------------

Maya No Big Deal





------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sea Lore Attina






-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Nail Junkie Grape Jelly




-----------------------------------------------------------

Enchanted Polish Ciao Milano




------------------------------------------------------------------

Paint Box Polish Gryffindor





---------------------------------------


And what IS my favorite indie polish for 2012? AquaDaisy Shazaam. I've used it so much that I'm already into my second bottle and I have more backups because I never want to run out of this. It's a one-coater and the finish is sort of a satin finish without top coat, which I really like. It dries SUPER fast. I finish swatching and I can have my nails done in less than 3 minutes, start to DRY finish. No lie. I've timed it. Best stuff EVER. Not to mention it's gorgeous. Well...look at it!






------------------------------------------------------


So there you have it! What do you think - any of these make YOUR favorites list for 2012? Haven't indies been a wild ride so far? I think it's not only awesome for them and for us but it's also awesome in that the big mainstream companies have had to sit up and take notice and start stepping up their games and I think, for the most part, they have. Everyone wins!

As you can see, I'm not hugely into the chunky glitters or glitterbombs. But I know lots of people are and I say more power to them - ROCK IT, Bay-bee!

Stay tuned for my final installment of the best of 2012 with "private label" indies...coming soon.




If you enjoyed this post, please take a second to "like" it! Thanks!

.