FAIR WARNING - YOU NEED THIS!!

I'm not even sure where I first saw a pic of any polishes by Parrot Polish.  I'm thinking it might have been on Instagram. It doesn't really matter. Bottom line is I saw a swatch and sped over to their website immediately to check them out.

My interest was piqued because they had some with Romanian names, which reminded me of my 23 days there when I was 17. I remembered that "frumose" means beautiful. I digress.

Normally I am not so willing to pay 12 bucks for a polish, but I threw 2 in my cart and didn't buy. A week later I wondered why I hadn't gotten them yet. Once I remembered that I hadn't actually purchased them, I did. For the record, they are based in Florida, and they have free shipping!

Let me say this before you look at the 8,000 pictures I've posted. Within a few hours I received tracking info with a very nice note from Dave, the owner. That was four days ago, and I got the polish today.

Once I got them opened, I was so excited by them that I swatched them immediately.  Then I was even more impressed and decided I wanted to email Dave and tell him what I thought. I logged into my email and found an email from him, just checking in to see if I had received them.  Pretty damn good customer relations.

My plan then was to do a blog post with a review of both polishes. Once I started taking pictures of this one, I knew that wasn't going to happen. I really don't normally like pic-heavy posts so there was no way I could do both polishes on the same day.

Without further ado, feast your eyes on Curcubeu, which means rainbow in Romanian.

Ya' know how sometimes holo or multi-chrome polishes need a couple of coats to look good? Or how they are best over black?  Not so with this. I did swatch over black, too, but it really made no difference in the look.  These first three pictures are ONE coat.

I'd say it's pretty amazing in one coat.

This next shot is taken with flash, and the rest have no flash.

I think this is one fantastic polish. It flashes strong green, aqua, silver, blue and quite a strong purple, but as with all things purple, I wasn't really able to capture it. I was also just looking at it as I sit here in the living room, and it also flashes that "not quite black" black color that you get with black holos. Suffice it to say it is striking. Each color that comes through is gorgeous.

This is one of those rare treats of a polish that exceeded my expectations by a mile. Their own pictures don't do this one justice. I love a strong holo, and anything that shifts colors automatically becomes one of my faves.

You can look forward (or not) to a similar post on the other one I bought, Arco Iris, which coincidentally also means rainbow, but in Spanish. I didn't know that until just now. lol

They also included a mini of Emerald Sand which is a green/blue holo and 2 of their homemade soaps which they sell for a buck.

Overall, if this is any indication of how this little company is run, they deserve the business. For the record, this rather strong opinion you're getting right now is strictly my own. They've offered me nothing, promised me nothing; I'm raving because it's just.that.good.

And in case you haven't noticed over the time period of this blog, I'm a smidge picky.

If you haven't checked out Parrot Polish before, I think it's pretty apparent that you should.

HERE WE GO AGAIN - CAPTURE THE COLORS!

Have I mentioned the weather is cold? The weather is mothereffing cold. Beyond cold. Like ridiculously cold. Right now it's -15 with a -37 wind chill factor. When I looked at the weather forecast last night, they actually had the nerve to say today would be "rapidly warming to -8". Seriously? They're calling that "warming"? I'm pretty sure my definition is a whole lot different than theirs.

I didn't plan on even going down the driveway to check the mail today, but then I realized I had some nail polish coming. Shit. I really didn't know if nail polish could freeze or if it would ruin it, so I trotted my happy ass out there to get it.

I'm glad I did. For my birthday one of my nail group buds got me an ILNP polish, Birefringence. It's so gorgeous I just had to get a few more. If you're a fan of chromatic polishes, I suggest you head on over there and buy them. All of them. Immediately, if not sooner.

Of course since this one is an ultrachrome, that means a ton of pictures. Even though I took about 30 pics, I still couldn't get a couple shades to show very well, but you can still see how pretty it is.  

Ridiculous, right?? This one is called Nostalgia. In simple terms, it is amazing.

I may decide to stamp over this before taking it off. It's just one of those polishes that are fun to look at. And since it's too cold to go anywhere, the other drivers on the road are safe.

Season premiere of The Bachelor tonight! I let it record so I can fast forward through the commercials. So now I'm off to watch 27 women act crazy as they "think" they're in love within the first 24 hours and then cry hysterically when they are booted off, blubbering about how he's made a mistake and they've just lost the love of their lives.

I do love me some (almost all) reality tv.

IT'S LIKE A GAME - TRY TO SHOW THAT COLOR SHIFT

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Short personal post and more nail talk today because there are sooo many pictures on this one. That probs makes a bunch of you very happy because if you actually met me, you'd probably tell me to just shut my damn mouth already. Or stop typing already.

Slept like poo last night. Tried my recliner, no luck; tried the couch, BIG mistake; tried Kev's recliner, no luck. My eyes are on fire today because they're tired. I'm in a pretty good mood, though....better than the last week or so. I'm chalking it up to some stress relief, but maybe it's overtired giddiness. Or it could be the amount of Vicodin in my system. I don't really care which it is because it's just nice to feel kinda' decent.

Last night I took off that OPI glitter. It reminded me of one of the reasons I'm not a glitter fan. It's because I'm not a fan of the removal of said glitter. That one was particularly difficult even though I did the tinfoil thingie which usually I have really good luck with. Of course, I was using non-acetone because I have just enough growout that I didn't want any acetone sneaking under my nails.

I was planning to do some spiderwebs but ended up hating them on top of the 2 different polishes I tried. I stamped 3 fingers on this and promptly wiped it off and decided to just leave it plain because it's just such a pretty polish all on its own.

My underwear on this is Orly Liquid Vinyl, which lately has become my go-to black. The gorgeousness on top of it is Mari Moon HITS Daring.  Just like all of the HITS polishes I have, this is one great multichrome. It also means you're about to be subjected to a bunch of pictures.

You might want to click on some of these to see them bigger. Just cuz' I said so.

I even had to take one in the living room by my chair to try to snag that purple. Note all of my important stuff; phone, stamper, topcoat and a great big glass of Dr. Pepper.

And of course, the requisite "car shots". (yes, I was at stoplights)

This one also flashes kind of a coppery/reddish that I just could not catch at home or in the car. I couldn't think of anywhere else to try it or I would have.

As with any polish that changes color, I love it and have been moving my hand around staring at it all day. If I can think of something to stamp over it tonight, maybe I'll keep it for another day. I just can't figure out what color I want to use or what design. I don't want to cover it up too much. I dunno....I'm at a loss.

And now I'll shut my mouth already....or stop typing already. :)

HITS MULTICHROME GRADIENT - WAAYYYY TOO MANY PICS

I think I'll just start off with an apology for having so many pictures of this mani in one post.  But you have no idea how hard it was to limit it to the 11(12 now) shots you see here.  I did kind of warn you in yesterday's post, though. As of yesterday afternoon I think I had taken around 50; by the time I got done trying to get some decent outside pics at home after work, I probably had more like 80.

So consider yourselves lucky that you're only seeing 11 (12) of them. It could have been so much worse.  It is the reason this day is only about the mani.

I had bought these HITS polishes from Llarowe last summer. I've used them a couple of times on their own and in a couple of marbles.  I shouldn't have done the marbles because the bottles are small so I don't have a whole lot left. 

While they are pretty on their own and marbled, putting them over some black underwear made them even more fantabulous. Even with all the pictures I took, there are still some color shifts that I was unable to capture. They actually look gold and green sometimes, too.

What I did was throw on one coat of a Sally Hansen black. I had no reason to actually choose the SH; it just happened to be the black I grabbed.  Then I just used a makeup sponge and did a gradient with the HITS Artsy, Daring and Unconventional. They are all spectacular in their own right, but I really, really like them as a gradient.

I did consider removing this last night, but I wasn't done staring at it yet. I did behave myself and not take pics in the gump-mobile, though. Just my kitchen, the bathroom, inside at work, outside at work and outside at home. If I could have found another place to take some, I probs would have.

Ooopsie! I went home for lunch and when I got back I just had to take one more picture.

Same mani; completely different colors. Again. Plain to see that the HITS polishes have some pretty crazy color shifts.

And seriously, who doesn't like a good color shifting polish? I think they are the most fun things ever! Even more fun than a good holo, IMHO.

And since this is my blog, MHO is the one that counts the most. lol

WELL, LOOKIE THERE - WAY TOO MANY PICS HERE

Just throwing this out there, but the fact that it is 80 degrees out is simply not fair. It would be fair if this would continue into Friday because then I could get one last day in the pool. Unfortunately, in typical Escanaba, Michigan weather, Friday is only supposed to hit 58 degrees. Doesn't seem right.

I was hoping that the warm weather was going to mean I could sit outside with the hummers tonight. Instead it has decided to downpour. Fan-frickin-tastic. Thanks for nuthin', Mother Nature.

I'm also gonna' toss this out there....for two days in a row I have worn just polish. Honest! No designs, no marbles...nada!

Fair warning; I have thrown in way too many pics of this one. Last night I had done a bunch but couldn't capture any color change. But we all know how good things show up while driving, so I snapped a bunch more on my way to work after lunch.

I thought I should show a bottle shot with the standard swatch nail I always attach to every bottle of my polish.  As you can see, it's a duochrome or multichrome and is not super opaque even after 3 coats with nothing underneath.  

The rest of the pics are all taken using one coat of the Kleancolor Wicked Angelic over two coats of Orly Liquid Vinyl.  Of course I was trying really hard to catch every color it flashes....impossible. I do suggest clicking on pics to see them bigger because the colors show a bit better.

 

Sorry there are so many pics; I just couldn't decide which to not use, and I can see slight differences of color in all of them. 

I don't always put a dark basecoat on when I use a duo or multi chrome. It's a mistake not to. In fact, if you have some weird looking polishes that don't impress on their own, slap 'em on over a coat of black just to try it. You never know what you might end up with.

Now I'm off to watch some tv and maybe do nails, maybe not. Or mabes I'll soak these suckers off.  Or mabes do a pedicure because my heels could use some attention.

Or mabes do like last night and just take a nap.

AHHHH, THE COLOR SHIFT

Since I've been busy going through old manicure photos and editing them for posting onto the Facebook page, I didn't actually do my nails tonight. While I was wandering through my old pics, I did run across some gems. I'm begging you to overlook the quality of the pics and the manicures.....these are old!  These manicures were done within 2 weeks of getting my Customs, and I was a real newbie back then when it came to clean up or how to take pictures. Thankfully, I think I've gotten a little better since last May. At least I hope so. Some of those old pics are embarrassingly awful. Holy bajeebus....to think that I posted those for people to see is....well, embarrassing! lol

  

This is going to be picture heavy because as many of you know, trying to catch all the colors of the duochromes is practically impossible. I did manage to catch a pretty good representation of this polish, tho. 

  

 

How cray-cray is this polish?? Just ONE polish! Back then I didn't even know there was such a thing as a duochrome, multichrome, color shift, not a friggin' clue. Can you imagine how surprised I was when I put this on? I do remember running around to different rooms in the house with different lights, holding my hand at different angles and playing with my camera trying to catch all of the colors. I'm sure Kev must have thought his wife had finally lost it. For realz.

So after getting probably 15 pics, I got in my car the next day to drive to work. Good Lord, I'm lucky I'm still alive to talk about it. It explains that last photo, though! I wasn't getting to see those colors when I was in the house. I'm a danger wearing anything holo or color-shifting while driving because I just want to move my fingers all over and stare at how beautimous all those amazing colors are. When I did this one, I just did not know a nail polish could do this. And just how do they do this?? I don't get it.

You'd probs like to know what this is, I'm guessing. It's HITS Aurora Boreal. The only fault I found with this polish is the size of the bottles. Tiny. Not as small as a mini, but small. I am not a fan of the mini or small bottle, mainly because they disappear within the rows of my Helmers. 

Sooooo there's my beauty for the night.  The next time I don't have time to do a current mani, I'll put up some pics of the HITS Emocionate.....same wondrous qualities as this one.

I'm outtie....have a wonderful Sunday, and I'll see you tomorrow night. :)