This is ibd Just Gel Polish Swag Bag, a bright medium blue with a cream finish.  I’m really digging the ibd brand polishes!  I’m asked frequently what I think of this brand… it’s affordable, the quality is great, it lasts just as long as the big name gel polishes (though I recommend using it with the Gelish base & top), and they have a good variety of colors.  What’s not to like?

This is Fingerpaints Before I Believe It’s Blue, a pure glitter polish in a blue tinted sheer base.  I didn’t this glitter polish would provide full coverage, but it far exceeded my expectations.  I gave it a good shake before applying and it had great coverage in three coats.  This polish has a gorgeous sparkle and smooth finish.  Love it!

And this is Couture Milano, a cool light blue with just a touch of shimmer.  I only have a few Coutures in my collection, but they also seem to be of really great quality.  Most of their colors are very highly pigmented and provide good coverage in two coats.  This one took three coats to look like this.

And here’s a bonus… this is ibd Gettin Twiggy With It.  I wanted to see what this glitter topper looked like so I applied it over ibd Swag Bag.  It has thin black and white bar glitter and kind of reminds me of salt & pepper beard clippings!  LOL  This might be a good topper to use for Movember mustache manis!

I had a bit of a rough weekend after hearing he passed and as I sat down to do my weekly mani I knew that I had to use feathers again in memory of him.  This time I went all out and put feathers on every nail!  Life is too short sometimes.  Had I known it would be the last time I would see my friend, I would have spent more time with him while he was here and given him a much tighter hug when he left.

For this mani I applied my Gelish base coat and cured.  From there I did each nail individually since using feathers is a little tricky.  I applied a layer of Gelish top coat over the base and while it was still wet, I placed a feather onto my nail and pressed it down into the top coat and then cured (these are small craft feathers that you can get online or at a craft store).  The feathers wanted to stick up on the sides, so I used an orangewood stick to hold the sides down while I was curing.  Sometimes the feathers still stuck up a bit, so I applied more top coat over the feather one side at a time and again held it in place while curing.

At this point the feather still extended over the top edge of the nail, so I trimmed it down with scissors and then filed the remainder off.  Because I didn’t use a base color underneath, the tips of my nails were exposed slightly, so I used Couture Little Black Dress to cap the edges and hide the visible tips.  And then I finally topped it all off with one last layer of top coat.

This is ibd Just Gel Polish Funny Bone, a bright medium pink with a cream finish.

This is ibd Peach Blossom, another cream pink but it isn’t quite as bright as Funny Bone.  This color is a little more “dusty” and is really pretty.

This is Gelaze Exceptionally Gifted, which has a frosty finish and will show brushstrokes if not applied carefully.  It’s a nice soft pink for spring.  The color looks slightly peachy in the first photo, but it’s not.  I tried to color correct it the best I could, but I think the second photo is more color accurate.

This is Ink Ballerina, another frosty finished pink.  I wish I had reviewed my photos before taking this polish off because the lighting made my skin and polish look a little cold and blue-ish.  It’s actually slightly more pink, which you can see in the comparison photo below.

Here’s a quick photo of these four colors on swatch sticks side-by-side under an OttLight.

I used two coats of Gelish Artic Freeze as the base for the peacock nails. The other nails have a base of Entity1 Walk the Runway which is a dark shimmery purple. I used some CND additive powders to create a gradient over the base color. I used CND Haute Pink at the base of the nail and Violet Pearl on the tips. This didn’t quite turn out as intended because I grabbed the wrong additive and didn’t notice until it was too late! I intended to use Blue Heaven on the tips instead to pull in a touch of blue instead of purple. The blue rhinestones are from MoYou.

Hi everyone! The ladies from the Beauty Blog Coalition have come together to bring you a May Day Giveaway with some really AMAZING prizes.  Be sure to visit the participating members listed in the graphic above. Three lucky winners will receive Visa gift cards with some very hefty values!!  This giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY!

Prizes:

• 1 winner will receive a prepaid Visa card for $500
• 1 winner will receive a prepaid Visa for $250
• 1 winner will receive a prepaid Visa for $130

Please be sure to read the full Terms & Conditions listed at the bottom of the Rafflecopter Widget below.  Good luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

• Gelish My One Blue Love (light blue background)
• Gelish Artic Freeze (white)
• Artistic Colour Gloss Flawless (light yellow for the chick & flowers)
• Gelaze Peachy Keen (orange flowers & chick beak)
• ibd Funny Bone (pink flowers)
• Couture Seduce Me (purple flowers)
• Couture Little Black Dress (black lines & dots on chick)
• Couture High Roller (dark green grass)
• Gelish Sometimes a Girl’s Gotta Glow (light green grass)

I had a really hard time photographing this design for some reason. It looks much more crisp in person and there’s more contrast in the colors.

This is Gelaze For Audrey. For Audrey by China Glaze has always been my go-to blue in regular nail polish, so I was so excited to see it also released in their gel line. I wear this color on my toes all the time. When I was applying this polish I noticed that it seemed to have a bit of a grainy texture and I could see tiny flecks of darker pigments, but after curing and applying my top coat it’s not noticeable at all. I also experienced the shrink-back that all of the Gelaze polishes seem to have, which I remedy by flash curing.

This is ibd Jupiter Blue… it looks like the same exact color, but the bottle is different.  I think Jupiter Blue might be just slightly lighter than For Audrey, but JUST ever so slightly.  Even with the swatch sticks side-by-side I can barely tell (see the last pic on the page).  So I definitely don’t see the need to own both of these colors, and ibd is less expensive and I didn’t have any shrink-back issues with it.  Both swatches shown are three coats.  The ibd shade may be slightly more sheer.

This is Fingerpaints Cool Blue Harmony.  It’s a brighter light teal, and is really pretty and I didn’t have any application issues with it at all.  I actually quite like the Fingerpaints brushes because they are thinner and it’s much easier to polish in the curves.  I think the first picture shows the color slightly brighter than it actually is in real life.

Here’s a quick shot of my swatch sticks for these three colors so you can see them side-by-side.  This is not totally color accurate and the colors appear more green than they actually are, but I wanted to show you how close ibd Just Jupiter and Gelaze For Audrey are to one another.

Oh, how I love color changing polishes! This is one of the Mood gel polishes from LeChat called Coral Caress. It shifts from a pale lavender when it’s warm to a dark coral color when it’s cold. I’ve been wearing this for a couple of days now and it’s almost always some shade of lavender. It has to be really cold to make this one shift to the coral color.

As usual, when I sat down to do this mani I didn’t really know what I was going to do.  I knew I wanted to use this mood polish and that I wanted to try to do some negative space half moons.  I applied my foundation gel and cured and then took a fine nail art brush and painted curved lines using Coral Caress where I wanted the moons to end.  Then I carefully applied two coats of Coral Caress, leaving the half moons bare.  My curved lines weren’t perfect so I decided to hide them by adding some white dots using a dotting tool and Gelish Arctic Freeze.

I stamped a wildflower pattern onto the tips of all of the nails except my middle finger using Messy Mansion stamping plate MM20, and Konad white stamping polish.  After stamping, I applied my top coat and cured one last time and then added the white bow charm to my middle nail.  To see my technique for applying charms like this, please watch the video on this page where I demonstrated with a cross.

These two photos were taken while the polish was in transition from cold to warm.  You can see that the tips are a little darker because they’re cooler.

This is what the polish looks like when it’s warm.

And this is a mid-transition color.  Since I’ve been wearing this polish, it’s normally been somewhere between the two lighter lavender shades.  It’s been warm outside, so I haven’t seen it transition to cold unless I touch something cold.

This is the coral shade when it’s really cold.  I had to soak in ice water to get it to look like this.  LOL  But I bet in the winter months you might see this color more often.

This is Couture Teal the Show.  This is another gorgeous color for spring and summer. It’s not quite as bright as the color above and has more green undertones.  It also has a shimmery finish, and was nice and opaque with three coats.

I’m trying to branch out a little into different brands, and this new collection by CND Shellac really caught my eye. I love bright, bold colors and these definitely fit that bill! I actually own a bunch of Shellac polishes, but I never use them because most of the colors seem rather dull, so it’s very refreshing to see them come out with such a playful collection. This is the Paradise Collection that was released for Summer 2014.

CND is really a great quality brand of polish and I was impressed with how well these applied. I didn’t experience any shrink-back and a few of the colors were completely opaque with just two thin coats (purple, pink and blue). The other three colors were were a little more sheer. They were decent with two coats, but I applied three because I dislike having the visible nail line. I was also able to cure these polishes in my Gelish 18G LED lamp. I will likely receive a lashing from CND techs for even mentioning that since they only recommend using the CND UV lamp with these polishes, but who the heck wants to wait an extra 90 seconds to cure each coat? Not this girl! So before applying these, I tested them in my LED lamp to see if they would cure and they did. Not all of my Shellacs will cure in LED though, and I can’t guarantee they will cure in any other lamp (except the CND brand lamp).

I know many of you will wonder how these colors compare to others in my gel polish collection, so I will prepare some comparison photos using my swatch sticks.  Keep an eye out for a comparison post in the next day or two.  Now, onto the colors!

CND Shellac Tango Passion is a gorgeous shimmery purple with a very royal feel to it.

CND Shellac Sultry Sunset is a bright shimmery shade of fuchsia.  This one is almost frosty because it will show some brushstrokes if you’re not careful, but it has really great coverage and is a total stunner in person.

CND Shellac Cerulean Blue is a creamy, bright sky blue.  This one also has really great coverage and is of course one of my favorites since I love blue!  I wore this for a couple of days and it received lots of compliments.

CND Shellac Lush Tropics is a bright green with a cream finish.  This polish was almost jelly-like since it was a bit thin and sheer.  I had to apply three coats to hide the visible nail line.  I’m not really a big green fan so this isn’t at the top of my list, but it’s a fun color.

CND Shellac Bicycle Yellow is a very lemon-y yellow with a very subtle shimmer.  The shimmer is hardly even noticeable in my photos, but it’s visible in certain lighting.

CND Shellac Electric Orange… well the name speaks for itself!  It’s a very bright shade of orange that’s absolutely perfect for summer.  This one has me ready to hit the beach.  I think my photos below make this color appear slightly darker than it actually is, but I was really struggling to get color accurate photos because of the brightness.

For this mani I started with a base of CND Shellac Bicycle Yellow.  I drew on the orange squares with CND Shellac Electric Orange, and the green squares using CND Shellac Lush Tropics with a dotting tool and cured.  I did the same with the blue squares next using CND Shellac Cerulean Blue.  I applied a thin layer of top coat over the whole nail, cured and wiped off the tacky layer.  I applied two pieces of scotch tape to each nail, covering most of the nail except for the blue square, and then stamped the pattern onto the exposed patches using my BM-404 stamping plate and white Konad polish.  And then I applied one last layer of top coat and cured again.  I love how it turned out!

The design on this stamping plate was created by Anutka from Wacky Laki!  She had several of her designs chosen for the Bundle Monster CYO collection and I love them all.

I didn’t intend on showing the other design, but I may as well since there’s nothing wrong with it.  I just didn’t like it for reasons that I can’t really explain.  I used all of the colors from the CND Shellac Paradise Collection in this mani and used striping tape as a guide for painting the crisp lines.  What do you think?  Am I crazy for hating it?  I think the colors are just too random for me… I like uniformity!  LOL

If my middle nail looks a little thick in these pictures it’s because I actually broke the tip off and repaired it with two coats of acrygel!  Love the stuff!  Read about the acrygel method here if you don’t know what I’m talking about.

Let’s start with CND Shellac Tango Passion.  This is an amazing shade of purple and seems to be a fan favorite based on how many likes this one received on my Instagram page.  I put this next to some other shades of purple that I thought you might like to see.  Ibd Indian Sari is the closes to this color, but it’s not quite as red and it doesn’t have the same frosty finish.   The shimmer of Indian Sari is a little more subtle.  That was previously my favorite dark purple, but Tango Passion may have just taken first place!

From left to right, the colors seen in this photo are Gelaze Spontaneous, Gelaze Flying Dragon, Gelish Starburst, CND Shellac Tango Passion, ibd Indian Sari, Gelish Diva and Gelish Night Reflection.

Here are some comps for CND Shellac Sultry Sunset, a frosty dark pink.  I don’t have any other colors in my collection that are a real close comparison for this color.  I showed some other dark pinks and a few colors that lean a little purple since Sultry Sunset does seem to have a slight purple tint to it.  From left to right the colors seen below are Gelaze 108 Degrees, Ink Dilemma, CND Shellac Sultry Sunset, Ink Ravishing, ibd Tabloid Talk, ibd Road to Paris and Gelaze Awakening.

CND Shellac Cerulean Blue was another fan favorite.  I have to say, I own a LOT of shades of blue since it’s my favorite color but I don’t have many that compare to this shade.  It’s more of a medium blue and it doesn’t really lean teal.  Ibd Swag Bag is the closest shade that I have.  I showed it next to a few other medium true blues and a couple of teals (toward the left).  I love, love, love this color on.  I’m actually wearing it right now and I get compliments on it all the time.  The colors seen below from left to right are Gelish My Favorite Accessory, Gelish Garden Teal Party, Ink When In Blue, CND Shellac Cerulean Blue, ibd Swag Bag, Gelish Ooba Ooba Blue and Gelish Sugar Daddy.

CND Shellac Lush Tropics is a creamy medium green unlike any others in my collection.  As you can see here, most of my greens are lighter and/or brighter.  I do have a few dark greens, but they’re all really dark compared to Lush Tropics so I didn’t show them.  These colors from left to right are Gelish You’re Such a Sweet Tart, Gelaze Lime Light, Gelish Amazon Flirt, Gelish A Girl’s Gotta Glow, LeChat Spearmint**, CND Shellac Lush Tropics and Couture Green With Envy.

CND Bicycle Yellow is the darkest yellow that I own.  LeChat Lemon Drop** is a close comparison though it’s a little less shimmery.  The colors below from left to right are Artistic Colour Gloss Flawless, Gelish Coco Cabana, Gelaze Celtic Sun, Couture Tres Chic, Gelish Don’t Be Such a Sourpuss, LeChat Lemon Drop** and CND Shellac Bicycle Yellow.

And the last one is CND Shellac Electric Orange.  I find that orange is always hard to photograph, so this isn’t a really great representation of the true colors.  CND Shellac Electric Orange is probably the darkest orange that I own that doesn’t lean Coral.  Gelish Tiger Blossom leans just slightly coral compared to Electric Orange.  The three shades to the right of Electric Orange lean more coral.  LeChat Lollipop** is a lighter true orange – that’s actually a very unique shade, very pumpkin-esque.  The colors below from left to right are Gelish Tiki Tiki Laranga, Ink Passion Paradise, LeChat Lollipop**, CND Shellac Electric Orange, Gelish Tiger Blossom, Gelish Fairest of them All and Gelish Sweet Morning Dew.

** I noted a few colors above that are from the new LeChat Sugar Me Up Collection!  I don’t actually own the colors in this collection, but a friend sent me swatch sticks to use for comparisons. Thanks Pam!  Pam also blogs about gel polish over at A Rose Among Thorns. 

And here are a few answers to some FAQ’s that I receive whenever I post pictures of my swatch sticks!

Q: Where do you buy your swatch sticks?  A:  eBay!  I buy them from China using this listing.

Q: Do you use a base and top coat on your swatch sticks?  A:  I do not use a base, but I do use a top coat.

Q: What do you use to label your swatch sticks?  A:  I use this Brother label maker and clear labels.  The clear labels are just slightly too wide to fit on the sticks so I have to trim them down before applying.

With His Red So Bright has a red jelly base and is loaded with glitter of all sizes.  It looks nice in just two coats, but I applied three to make it a little darker.

I love all of the glittery reds that Gelish offers.  Here’s a picture of all of them side by side.  The base of With His Red So Bright is similar to Good Gossip, but the glitter is more random.

P.S. May the Fourth be with you! 

I decided that something delicate like lace would look pretty with it, so I dug through my stamping plates looking for a lace pattern.  I didn’t quite find what I wanted so I ended up layering two different stamps from my Cheeky Jumbo plates to get this effect.  I stamped these designs right over my foundation gel for a natural look.  I started off with a fine honeycomb pattern from Jumbo plate #5 Musical Notes, and then I applied a floral pattern over top from Jumbo Plate #3 European Romance.

For the sparkly crimson nails I used a base of Gelish Red-y For the Festival and topped it with two coats of Gelish Trends Life of the Party (very suiting names).  The cream nails have four (yes 4!) coats of Gelish Snow Bunny.  Gelish Need a Tan would have been perfect for this, but I lent it to my mom.  Doh!  Snow Bunny is off-white, so I made due even though it was very thin and streaky which is why I ended up with four coats.

I stamped the designs onto my nails using Bundle Monster holiday plate BM-H23, which is a stamping plate with graduation designs.  This was my first time trying a multi-colored stamp… it was pretty easy!  For the roses I used CND Vinylux Scarlet Letter (press sample) and a generic green stamping polish with no name.  And the image with the graduation cap and “CONGRATS” was stamped on using Konad black.

Time to celebrate!

Snow Bunny looks white, but when you see it against a white bottle you can tell it’s a little off-white.

And here’s a shot of the layered stamps on my thumb.

Chickettes.com turns 2 years old today!!  Time flies when you’re having fun!  I really, really love writing this blog and sharing all of my swatches and nail art with you, and I hope to do it for many more years to come.  ♥♥  Did you know… I had no idea when I started this blog that it was even going to be about nails! I intended to write about gardening and recipes and all of my hobbies.  Two of my first posts were about how to apply and remove gel nail polish because it was one of my many hobbies, and before I knew it I was solely writing about gel polish.  It must have been fate!

To celebrate Chickettes 2nd blogiversary, I’m holding a giveaway with some amazing prizes for you from some very generous donors!  To enter the giveaway, please scroll down to the bottom of this post and use the Rafflecopter widget to earn entries.

Prize #1:  A Deluxe Nail Polish Kit from Couture!!

The gel nail polish kit includes everything you need for a salon-quality gel nail polish manicure at home:

• Your choice of 3 Couture Gel Nail Polish colors
• Base Coat
• Super Shine Top Coat
• LED Espree Salon Lamp with 30 second dry time
• Instructional DVD and brochure
• Exclusive Cleanse and Remove Products
• And a bonus salon quality manicure tool kit
• Zippered Cosmetic Case

See more at: http://www.couturegelnailpolish.com/products/deluxe-gel-nail-polish-kit.html

*** IMPORTANT NOTE:  This prize will be shipped by the sponsor and only entrants with mailing addresses in the U.S., Canada or Mexico are eligible for this prize.

Prize #2: Messy Mansion Stamping Plates!

Messy Mansion has some amazing stamping plates!  Click here to see the nail art that I’ve done using my MM plates.

The winner of this prize will receive:

• Your choice of 4 MM series stamping plates AND
• Your choice of 2 Lily Anna series stamping plates

Prizes #3 & 4: Rainbow Honey Nail Lacquer & Nail Art Haul!

The third and fourth prizes were generously donated by Esther’s Nail Center and Artsyfartsy Crafts. The winners will each receive:

• 2 Rainbow Honey nail lacquers (regular nail polish, NOT gel)
• An assortment of nail art studs and accents (stars, hearts, shapes, etc)
• And 8 pots of loose glitter from AFC. Make those nails sparkle!!

• The giveaway begins today, May 10th and will run through May 17th.
• Entries will be collected via Rafflecopter.
• The winners will be selected randomly via Rafflecopter and announced on May 18th.
• The winners will be notified via email, and will have 48 hours to claim the prizes or new winners will be selected.
• Prize #1 is only open to residents of the United States, Canada, and Mexico or you must be able to provide a valid shipping address in one of these countries.
• Prizes #2, 3 and 4 are open to EVERYONE!
• Entries will be verified.

GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also, here’s a quick tip for when you want to wear a gel mani for just a couple of days… use a regular nail polish base underneath.  Apply it to your nails, let it dry and then apply your gel mani as usual over top.  You should get at least a few days wear out of it if you aren’t handling nail polish remover, but it won’t last much longer than that.  I did that this past weekend with my graduation mani.  All of my nails but one made it through a 4 day weekend and the rest soaked off easily.

Who’s ready for summer??!! I am! The new Gelish Colors of Paradise collection is full of fun, bright colors for the summer season.  I know that many of you have been anticipating these swatches and to see how they compare with the All About the Glow collection.  Many of the colors in this set are similar, but they are actually even brighter than the colors from last summer.  The purple and dark blue are very unique and are colors that I think would be great to wear year-round.  I’m going to work on some comparisons next, so keep an eye out for that post within the next day or two.

The formula of these polishes was good, though I found that I needed three coats for the best coverage.  On the official Gelish FB page they posted a tip to apply a coat of white under these colors to make them pop even more, so in each of my swatches the pinky finger has a white base underneath and every finger has three coats of color.  In many of them the difference is subtle, but the white base does enhance the colors a bit and it eliminates any visible nail line.  The white that I used was Gelish Arctic Freeze since it’s the most opaque and the brightest white in the Gelish line.

I have only done a very basic fade test so far.  I put all of my swatch sticks in a window with direct sunlight for a whole day.  All of the colors look good after 1 day of exposure, but I think the orange color called Rockin’ the Reef may appear slightly darker (less neon).  I’ll keep an eye on them for a couple more days and will report any further findings.

Tahiti Hottie is one of my two favorites from this collection.  I was worried that this color would be too similar to You Glare I Glow, but I don’t think they’re alike at all.  Tahiti Hottie is more of a reddish purple and reminds me of a vibrant orchid shade.  It’s definitely the brightest purple in the Gelish line now.  This color is what I imagined Carnival Hangover would look like, but mine turned out to be much more pink.

And this is my other favorite from this collection, Mali-Blu Me Away.  It’s a perfect bright, medium royal blue.  I can see myself wearing this color any time of year… it’s bright enough for spring and summer, yet dark enough for even fall and winter.  Love it!

Rub Me the Sarong Way is a gorgeous, bright shade of teal.  It’s similar to Radiance is My Middle Name but is lighter and brighter.  It also has better coverage because I have visible nail line with Radiance.

Lime All the Time is a bright lime green.  This color is very similar to A Girl’s Gotta Glow but is lighter and brighter also.  It also has better coverage.

Pacific Sunset is a VERY bright pink. This color reminds me of barbies and bubble gum!  LOL  You can see in this swatch that the white base on the pinky made the color much brighter.  The formula of this polish was a little thinner than the others and I actually had a slight visible nail line though it doesn’t show in the picture.  This color is brighter than Brights Have More Fun and a little more pink.

Rockin’ the Reef is a very bright orange that leans a little coral.  This color is lighter than Tiki Tiki Laranga and much darker than I’m Brighter Than You.  It also has better coverage than Tiki Tiki.

Now that you’ve seen my swatches of the new Gelish Colors of Paradise Collection, here’s your chance to win the whole set of colors and some other awesome goodies from Gelish MINI®!  This prize package includes everything you need to start doing your own gel polish manicures at home.

A huge thanks to Gelish MINI for sponsoring this giveaway!
Gelish MINI polishes can be purchased in the U.S. at Sally Beauty Supply.

The Prize

ONE lucky winner will receive ALL of the following:

1) A complete Colors of Paradise Gelish MINI collection.  The six colors in the collection are:

• Tahiti Hottie
• Mali-Blu Me Away
• Rub Me the Sarong Way
• Lime All the Time
• Pacific Sunset
• Rockin’ the Reef

2) A Gelish MINI Pro 45 LED Curing Light

3) A Gelish MINI Basix Kit, which includes:

• Mini Gelish Ph Bond
• Mini Gelish Foundation
• Mini Gelish Top It Off
• Mini Gelish Nourish
• Mini Gelish Cleanser
• Mini Gelish Artificial Nail Remover

The Rules

• The giveaway begins today, May 14th and will run through May 25th.
• Entries will be collected via Rafflecopter only.
• The winner will be selected randomly via Rafflecopter and announced on May 26th.
• The winner will be notified via email, and will have 48 hours to claim the prize or a new winner will be selected.
• This giveaway is open internationally!
• Entries will be verified.

GOOD LUCK!

Enter to Win!

Please use the Rafflecopter widget below to earn entries for this giveaway.
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***
Many people have noted that the new Colors of Paradise collection (see the swatches) has colors that look very similar to the All About the Glow Collection (see the swatches) that was released last summer.  So I have prepared some comparison pictures to show you the differences (if any).

Let’s Start with the purple, Tahiti Hottie.  Many of you commented that it looks exactly like You Glare, I Glow.  I highly disagree on this one.  Tahiti Hottie is much more of a reddish purple.

Here’s what it looks like compared with a few other colors.  From left to right:  CND Shellac Tango Passion, Gelaze Flying Dragon, Gelish You Glare I Glow, Gelish Tahiti Hottie.

Next let’s take a look at that blue that you all love, Mali-Blu Me Away.  This one is pretty unique and there wasn’t a medium blue in the All About the Glow collection.  From left to right, the colors seen here are:  Gelish After Dark, Gelish Holiday Party Blues, Gelish Caution, Gelish Mali-Blu Me Away, Gelish Ocean Wave, Gelish Sugar Daddy and Gelish Wiggle Fingers.

The teal blue in this collection is Rub Me the Sarong Way.  This one actually does look very similar to the teal from last year called Radiance is My Middle Name.  Sarong is just slightly brighter and it has better coverage than Radiance.  I don’t see the need to own both of these.

Here are some other teals.  From left to right: CND Shellac Hotski to Tchotchke, Gelaze Turned Up Turquoise, Gelish Radiance is My Middle Name, Gelish Rub Me the Sarong Way, Gelaze For Audrey, ibd Jupiter Blue, Fingerpaints Cool Blue.  I received a couple of questions about For Audrey – Sarong is a much brighter teal.

The new green shade, Lime All The Time is also similar to the shade that was released last year called Sometimes A Girl’s Gotta Glow.  Lime All the Time is lighter/brighter, but only by a few shades.  Again, I don’t think there’s a need to own both of these.  Lime All the Time has better coverage, so I would probably go with that one.

Here are some other limey shades.  From left to right: Gelaze Lime Light, Gelish Amazon Flirt, Gelish A Girl’s Gotta Glow, Gelish Lime All the Time, LeChat Spearmint.  This photo shows the difference between the shades a little better than the one above.  They aren’t dupes for sure, but very similar shades.Pacific Sunset is the new pink in the Paradise collection.  The pink from last year was Brights Have More Fun.  These two are also similar, yet different.  My photos don’t show the differences in these shades well, but Pacific Sunset is a brighter shade of pink and is less reddish.

Here are some other related colors.  From left to right: Gelish Shake It Til You Samba, Gelish Brights Have More Fun, Gelish Pacific Sunset and Gelish Make You Blink Pink.  Make You Blink Pink is the other pink from last year’s summer collection.  You can see this one is a very different shade from the others, but I thought it would be good to show.

And lastly the new orange shade is Rockin’ the Reef.  Last year’s orange/peach shade was I’m Brighter Than You.  These colors are very different from one another, but Rockin’ The Reef does resemble some other colors which you’ll see in the next photo.

Rockin’ the Reef is a unique shade in the Gelish line.  It’s an orange that leans slightly coral.  It’s similar to Tiki Tiki, but not quite as orange, and it’s lighter than the other more coral colors.  I have a really hard time capturing true colors when they are side-by-side like this, so this isn’t 100% accurate.  From left to right: Gelish Tiger Blossom, Gelish Fairest of Them All, Gelish Tiki Tiki Laranga, Gelish Rockin’ the Reef and Gelish I’m Brighter Than You.

I hope you all find this post helpful in determining which colors to buy!  I still think the two that everyone should get are Tahiti Hottie and Mali-Blu Me Away! 

And here are a few answers to some FAQ’s that I receive whenever I post pictures of my swatch sticks!

Q: Where do you buy your swatch sticks? A: eBay! I buy them from China using this listing.

Q: Do you use a base and top coat on your swatch sticks? A: I do not use a base, but I do use a top coat.

Q: What do you use to label your swatch sticks? A: I use this Brother label maker and clear labels. The clear labels are just slightly too wide to fit on the sticks so I have to trim them down before applying.