Del Sol - Trick or Treat

Good morning friends!! I hope you guys have been enjoying ogling the prizes in my giveaway. Day one of the giveaway was a huge success and I'm having so much fun reading all the things that you guys love about autumn and Halloween! If you haven't entered yet, don't forget to click the link in my sidebar and it will take you to my Halloween Giveaway Spooktacular!

Anyways, back to our regularly scheduled Halloween polishes =) Today I have for you such a fun polish, Del Sol Trick or Treat! It is a UV reactive polish which means it changes colors in the sun. Trick or Treat is an orange jelly polish packed with orange and green glitter. When it is exposed to sunlight, the orange jelly turns into a deep burgundy/brownish color! So cool right? I believe that this was released by Del Sol in 2010 as an LE Halloween polish. I still see this popping up on eBay and other online stores so it's not too hard to find.

Most other pictures I see of this polish, the darkened portion looks like a dark purple but since I did 4 coats of it to cover my nail lines, it's much more saturated and it looks brown in my pics. I think next time I will just suffer through the VNL and only do 2 coats so I can get more of the purple color from this. Either way, still cool and definitely an essential in my Halloween polish collection.

Here's 4 coats of Del Sol Trick or Treat, no topcoat. First two pictures are indoors, last two pictures are in full sunlight. Enjoy!

What do you guys think? Is it cool or too gimmicky? Do you have any UV-reactive polishes?

Thanks for stopping by today guys! Don't forget to enter my Halloween Giveaway Spooktacular! See you all tomorrow with more Halloween polish =)

The Scholarly Nail's Halloween Giveaway Spooktacular! - CLOSED

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

Good morning my lovelies! I am so excited to bring you my very first giveaway today! I have recently reached several milestones on this blog, including my 1 year blogaversary, 400 followers and 100 posts! To celebrate you all being so amazing, and to celebrate my favorite holiday of the year, I bring you my HALLOWEEN GIVEAWAY SPOOKTACULAR!

Up for grabs are:

PRIZE #1 - 3 China Glaze 2012 Halloween polishes and OPI Glow Out For Halloween Minis

This prize includes:

China Glaze Glitter Goblin, Cast a Spell and Immortal

OPI Glow Out for Halloween Mini set INCLUDING HTF BOO-BERRY

PRIZE #2 - 4 DOLLISH POLISH HALLOWEEN POLISHES

This prize includes:

Dollish Polish Deadly Nightshade, This is Halloween, What's This, Whats This? and Something's Up with Jack

 PRIZE #3 - 4 VARIOUS INDIE BRAND HALLOWEEN POLISHES

 This prize includes:

Sonoma Nail Art Here Lies Robert, KB Shimmer Jack, CrowsToes Hell Hath No Fury and Hit Polish Halloween

PRIZE #4 - 2 REVLON POLISHES, 1 NAIL STENCIL, 2 FANTASY MAKERS POLISHES

 This prize includes:

Revlon Haunted Heart, Wicked Star and Skull Nail Stencils

Fantasy Makers Once Upon a Time and Rest in Pieces

PRIZE #5 - 2 VINTAGE SALLY HANSEN HALLOWEEN POLISHES, 2 PUMPKIN POLISHES, 1 NYC DEMON GLOW

This prize includes:

SUPER HTF VINTAGE Sally Hansen Jack-o-Lantern and Trick or Treat

Pumpkin Black Light polishes in Purple Glitter and Orange Glitter

NYC Demon Glow Glow-in-the-Dark Topcoat

RULES FOR THIS GIVEAWAY:

1. Giveaway begins October 2, 2012 and ends at MIDNIGHT on October 16, 2012.

2. This is open INTERNATIONALLY (excluding Italy). Please keep in mind that international winners may not receive their prizes until after Halloween due to longer shipping times.

3. You must be 18 years of age to enter.

4. There will be 5 winners chosen randomly. Each winner will receive one of the prize packs. They will be chosen based on order of preference. I cannot guarantee that you will win your 1st choice prize. 

5. NO CHEATING. I will be checking entries daily and if you falsify any information, you will be automatically disqualified and will not be eligible to win any prizes. Please, let's keep this fair and fun for everyone!

6. Please enter using the Rafflecopter widget below.

7. You must be a follower using Google Friend Connect (GFC). You must also provide your e-mail address. All other entries are optional.
8. The winner has 48 HOURS to respond to my notification e-mail. If I do not hear from you, the prize will be passed on to another person.

9. HAVE FUN and GOOD LUCK!

Disclosure: All prizes purchased by me. All products are new and unused.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers Once Upon a Time

Happy October everyone!! As many of you know, October is my favorite month of the year for many reasons, but mainly for two reasons: Halloween and my wedding anniversary. Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday of the year and the husband and I even had a Halloween themed wedding. Anyways, I wanted to celebrate the month of October by wearing as much Halloween polish as possible so be prepared for a Halloween extravaganza this month!

Since I showed you all some vintage Fantasy Makers polishes yesterday, I figured I would show you one of this year's Fantasy Makers polish, Once Upon a Time. This polish was sent to me by my wonderful friend Arlyn who knows how much I love Halloween and how special the month of October is to me. Thank you so much girl <3 Fantasy Makers are available at drugstores here in the US and are often times found in the Halloween section, NOT the cosmetics section so sometimes you do have to hunt for them!

Fantasy Makers Once Upon a Time is a dark grey jelly packed with red hex and small glitters.  It is reminiscent of Lippmann Ruby Slippers and NYX Dorothy, but made way more awesome by the addition of a tombstone shaped bottle! The jelly base of Once Upon a Time is pretty sheer so I layered one coat of it over yesterday's Fantasy Makers Glitterin'. This combo definitely screams Halloween to me!

Here's 1 coat of Fantasy Makers Once Upon a Time over vintage Fantasy Makers Glitterin'. Enjoy!

What do you guys think? Have you picked up any Fantasy Makers polishes recently?

Retro Sunday Squared - Halloween Month Kickoff with Vintage Fantasy Makers!

Happy Sunday my lacquered lovelies! I am so excited to bring you all today's edition of Retro Sunday Squared with my girl Dana over at Polished Claws Up! Dana and I are both huge Halloween nuts so we decided that all October, Retro Sunday Squared will be bringing you the best polishes of Halloween's past! Today may be the last day in September but we couldn't wait, so to kick off Halloween month, we're sharing with you vintage Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers polishes today.

Fantasy Makers is Wet n Wild's Halloween brand that they do every year. These days, Fantasy Makers polishes are packaged in adorable little tombstones but back in the day they were in regular old bottles. I am not sure the exact date of these polishes but I believe they are from somewhere around the early 2000's. Correct me if I'm wrong! Vintage Fantasy Makers are so fun because there are TONS of them out there and it's interesting to see how the brand has evolved over the years.

So without further ado, here are the two vintage Fantasy Makers polishes I have chosen to show you all today! Hope you enjoy and don't forget to check out Dana's Fantasy Makers picks as well =)

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First up is Fantasy Makers Sparklin'. I AM OBSESSED WITH THIS POLISH. Sorry for shouting but it really is that awesome. Sparklin' combines my two favorite things ever: shimmer and color shifting glitter. Combining glitter and shimmer together can get kind of tricky because often times the shimmer will overtake the glitter or vice versa. But this polish has the absolute perfect ratio of glitter to shimmer and together they pack quite a punch! Sparklin' has a green jelly base packed with golden shimmer and blue to green to gold color shifting glitter! YES! SO GOOD!

So here's 3 coats of Fantasy Makers Sparklin'! Don't forget to enlarge these pics, Sparklin' is definitely worth a closer look =)

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Next up is Fantasy Makers Glitterin'. Glitterin' is a black jelly base packed with red micro glitter. It is very reminiscent of China Glaze Lubu Heels or RBL Black Russian - but better because it was meant for Halloween! Yes, I got rid of my Lubu Heels because I wanted to keep this polish instead. You know me, I'm a sucker for anything Halloween! Red and black polishes are perfect for Halloween so this is a great addition to my Fantasy Makers collection =)

Here's 2 coats of Fantasy Makers Glitterin'. Enjoy!

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What do you guys think? Do you have any old school Fantasy Makers polishes? DO you have any of the more recent Fantasy Makers ones? Do share!

Thanks for stopping by today! Stay tuned all October long for a Halloween polish extravaganza here at The Scholarly Nail! I can't wait!!

Tone on Tone Fall Stamping

Happy Friday my loves!!! I've been wanting to try different kinds of nail art lately but when it comes down to it, I'm still a stamping junkie at heart. I am a huge fan of stamping - it's easy, the finished product looks great and there are countless awesome stamping plates out there with fun patterns. I haven't updated my stamping plate collection in awhile but I need to soon because there are so many great ones that have come out lately.

I figured I'd do another fall-ish manicure for today because, well, I flipping love fall. Just warning you all now, get ready for a TON of orange polishes to come in the next month or so. Orange is one of my favorite polish colors and plus with fall starting and Halloween just around the corner, I can't get enough of it! I love tone-on-tone stamping looks, which is patterns stamped in the same color family as the base color. It manages to be subtle but with a bit of a twist. Tone-on-tone designs are the perfect way to wear nail art to the office because from far away it looks like your average mani but up close it's a party on your nails!

I started out this manicure with 2 coats of Joe Fresh Pumpkin. This was gifted to me by my lovely twitter friend Caitlin. Joe Fresh is a Canadian clothing store that also has a fantastic line of nail polish. Joe Fresh Pumpkin is THE PERFECT PUMPKIN COLOR. Sadly, my camera wonks out with oranges but Pumpkin is a bit more yellow than pictured here. Imagine the exact color of pumpkin puree and that is the color of this polish. It's absolute perfection in a bottle. I stamped over it with Kleancolor Metallic Orange, which is the most amazing metallic orange color you will ever see. If you're new around here, I have a serious obsession with Kleancolor Metallic polishes. They are amazingly pigmented and great for stamping as well!

So here's 2 coats of Joe Fresh Pumpkin stamped with Kleancolor Metallic Orange. Enjoy!

What do you guys think?

Thanks for stopping by today and I'll see you all tomorrow!!

Top 20 Autumn Polishes and China Glaze Harvest Moon Swatched!

Good morning everyone!! I've been seeing lots of "Top Autumn" posts going around in the past week or so and I thought I would join in on the fun! Fall is my absolute favorite season and I'm so excited that it's finally here. I love everything about it, from the cooler temps and falling leaves to Halloween and pumpkins to boots and sweaters and everything in-between. Another thing I love about Autumn is the colors. Not just the vivid colors of the changing leaves, but also the murky grey skies and the muted jewel tones of fall fashion. Don't get me wrong, I love me some neons but there's nothing quite like a deep, glowing red polish to put me in a great mood.

I had a really tough time choosing a top 20 and I feel like I'm really missing a lot of gems here. I wanted to try to represent a wide range of color families in my list and I'm pretty happy with what I've come up with. I ended up deciding on my choices by writing a list of the colors (i.e. not the specific polishes) that I thought were essential for fall, and from there I picked a polish that fit into each category. I will list the runner's up in each category as well, just for fun =)

So here's my Top 20 Autumn Polishes for 2012. In bold, I have listed the colors pictured and in parentheses I have listed the runners up!

 (L-R)

Metallic Bright Red: Sally Hansen Hot Sauce (Runner Up: OPI Danke Shiny Red)

Red/Orange Duochrome: MAC Bad Fairy (RU: Sally Hansen Prisms Amber Ruby)

Red w/ Copper Shimmer: Maybelline Autumn Leaves (RU: L'Oreal 405)

Vampy Red: China Glaze Branding Iron (RU: Revlon Vixen)

 (L-R)

Bright Orange Shimmer: Wet n Wild Inferno (RU: China Glaze Riveting)

Pumpkin Orange: Joe Fresh Pumpkin (RU: OPI Ginger Bells)

Orange-Copper Foil: China Glaze Harvest Moon (RU: Kleancolor Metallic Orange)

Gold Glitter: Milani Gold Glitz (RU: China Glaze Fireside Glow)

Mustard Yellow: China Glaze Trendsetter (RU: Hard Candy Hot Rod)

 (L-R)

Dusty Green Creme - Avon Olive Green (RU: China Glaze Westside Warrior)

Green w/ Gold Shimmer: Sally Hansen Project Runway (RU: BB Couture Grenade)

Green/Gold Duochrome - Chanel Peridot (no RU)

Olive Green Shimmer - NARS Mash (RU: China Glaze Wagon Trail)

 Dusty Blue-grey: Essence Into the Dark (RU: MAC Blue India)

Teal: OPI Ski Teal We Drop (RU: YSL Wintergreen)

Purple/Blue Duochrome: Nubar Peacock Feathers (RU: Ludurana Reluz)

(L-R)

Plum Creme: Misa Sorry Just Can't Help It (RU: China Glaze Urban Night)

Deep Purple Shimmer: OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest (RU China Glaze Cowgirl Up)

Brown Shimmer: Sephora by OPI 212-Sephora (RU: China Glaze Ingrid)

Metallic Brown: Urban Decay Barlust (RU: China Glaze Side Saddle)

Honorable mention:

Anything not previously listed from the China Glaze 2011 Metro and 2008 Rodeo Diva Collections

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Now I have for you a polish I have been dying to swatch since it came out, China Glaze Harvest Moon. Harvest Moon was part of this spring's Capitol Colors collection, which is perhaps the most fall-ish collection to ever be released not in the fall. Harvest Moon is a gorgeous orangey-copper foil. Pictured is two coats but it really could have been a one coater had I not been taking pics. This color just screams autumn to me and the name is perfect as well! Formula was decent, it took a bit longer to dry than I would have expected, hence the smudge on my ring finger. The dry time isn't too crazy though and is definitely manageable.

Here's 2 coats of China Glaze Harvest Moon!

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So what do you all think? Do you agree with my top polishes for autumn? Disagree? What are some of your picks for the best fall polishes?

Thanks for stopping by today! See you all tomorrow =)

Vintage Hard Candy Scam

Happy Hump Day my lovely readers!! Today I have a vintage Hard Candy polish that I didn't get to show you all last week called Scam. Scam may be my absolute favorite of all my vintage Hard Candy polishes and of course, probably the most difficult one to capture on camera as well.

Hard Candy Scam has a bright magenta base that is absolutely packed with blue shimmer. The blue shimmer in the magenta base gives the polish an overall purple tone. Scam is from the original 1996 release of Hard Candy and is extremely difficult to find these days so I feel very happy that I was able to get my hands on it! But like everything else vintage, you just never know what is going to pop up so if you are interested in collecting vintage Hard Candy, just keep your eyes peeled!

These swatches are pretty subpar today, but I am showing you these ones because they capture the color the most accurately out of all the ones I took. Each one is in a different lighting setting to try to capture the subtle nuances of the polish in every light possible!
Here's 3 coats of Hard Candy Scam. Enjoy!

What do you guys think? Do you have anything similar in your stash? 

Thanks for stopping by today and I'll see you all tomorrow =)