Happy almost Valentine’s Day everyone! It’s not my favorite holiday, but I still never pass up the chance to decorate or get into the holiday spirit. Even if it might be a little commercialized, it still only comes up once a year and is a nice reminder to appreciate my loved ones!
So, on that slightly random note, today I have three polishes from I Love Nail Polish’s Valentine’s Day collection: Candy Gram, No Place Like Rome, and Truffle Shuffle. I’ll start by sharing Candy Gram:
Two coats ‘Candy Gram’ over Pure Ice ‘Love’
I love that for her Valentine’s Day collection, Barbra (I Love Nail Polish maker) didn’t go the overly sweet, cutesy route. While all of these polishes could be used for V-Day, they’re also versatile and fun enough to be used during the rest of the year as well.
Candy Gram is the perfect example of this collection’s versatility – while it has sugary white hearts in the mix, there’s also a smattering of black shard glitters, creating a unique mix of bitter and sweet.
Next up is Truffle Shuffle, a chocolatey glitter topper:
Two coats ‘Truffle Shuffle’ over Essie ‘All Tied Up’
This polish truly exudes a ‘fudginess,’ which you think you wouldn’t want in a manicure until you put it on your nails and realize, wow, this actually looks really cool. I have rarely seen brown glitter used as the star in a polish, and the couple times that I have, I have never seen it done like this – the multi-shaped brown glitters give it a sweet, but earthy tone. I could see this polish also working beautifully in the fall, over a tan or mustard base color. Or for earth day! So many options.
As you can see in the bottle shot, there is also a pretty mix of red and pink circle glitters mixed in as well. This polish is so unique, and I love that about it.
Last up, we have ‘No Place Like Rome.’
Two coats ‘No Place Like Rome’ over OPI ‘A Taupe The Space Needle’
When I saw this polish in the bottle, I wasn’t that excited about it, and actually swatched it last because I figured, hey, red glitter is red glitter, right? Well. Then I put it on and realized I was totally wrong, and just making crazy polish assumptions.
‘No Place Like Rome’ is a stunning mix of bright red, multi-sized glitters, from large hexes, medium circles, all the way down to fine micros. I thought having all the glitters the same color would prove monotonous; I was wrong. The varying sizes of the glitters combined with the BAM, in-your-face redness of the red made this polish just pop on my nails. It ended up being one of my favorite glitter toppers I have.
I love that this polish took me completely by surprise! Reminded me of that great ol’ life lesson, not to judge a book by its cover and all. Not to assume anything. Oh, nail polish, the wise life lessons you teach me.
Last but not least, I was curious how this mani would look matte. Uh, try AMAZING.
I Love NP ‘No Place Like Rome’ over OPI ‘A Taupe The Space Needle,’ NYX ‘Matte Me Crazy’ topcoat
The quality of these polishes were fantastic overall. I love that they come out a little fine, because sometimes I prefer a more sparse, elegant mani over a glitter bomb, and these polishes could accomplish that beautifully with the right base. My only complaint would be that they have a bit of an unusual smell, but it wasn’t bad at all. Just different smelling.
I’ve only ever had good experiences with I Love Nail Polish and would definitely recommend them. Communication with Barbra has been excellent, and I love how involved she gets in the nail polish community, interacting with other bloggers and nail polish fans in various social networks.
You can find her polish at her etsy shop. She has tons of lovely polishes, so give it a look! And I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine’s Day, whatever that means for you. 🙂
The Polish Fox. 