Serum No. 5's Shimmery Glow-in-the-Dark Nail Polishes for Spring/Summer 2015

Serum No. 5 is back again with some gorgeous rainbow-y glow in the dark shimmers for summer. I'm a bit late in posting these, but I know you guys wear brights year round (and even better to wear these glows in winter when it gets dark earlier!).

Coral-ectric is a peachy coral with a golden shimmer. It was nicely even at two coats, but I had a bit of visible nail line, so I went for three. It dries down nice and smooth with very little grit from the glow pigments.

Glo-balt Blue is a gorgeous blue shade with a silver and purple shimmer. Like Coral-ectric, it was even at two coats but I went for three to cover my nail line. It had a bit more grit as it dried down, but was totally manageable with a good coat of topcoat.

Kiwi Glow Now? is a lime green shade with silver shimmer. I found this one to be a bit streaky when I applied it, even at three coats, so be sure to give it time between coats to let it set. There was very little grit to it as it dried down.

Raspberry Delight is a bright pink with violet shimmer. I used two coats for full coverage on this one. It was on the grittier side as it dried down, so you may need two coats of topcoat. How great is this color? Drooooooool!

Wisteri-ously Bright is a lavender shade with purple, blue, and silver shimmer. I used three coats for this swatch, but you could get away with two, as well. Like Raspberry Delight, I found this to be one of the grittier ones as it dried. One thing to mention: maybe it's just my eyes, but I always have a hard time seeing this type of blue-colored glow in the dark.

This collection was just restocked on SerumNo5.com, so head over there if you see something(s) you want to add to your collection! International gals, they are also available via a number of stockists.

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China Glaze Electric Nights for Summer 2015 Swatch and Review

China Glaze's new summer collection, Electric Nights, draws inspiration from the electronic dance music culture with nine neon cremes and three neon glitter toppers. It's not my scene but these polishes sure are! They're bright, they're fun, they're bumpin'. Read on to check out my swatches!

Point Me to the Party - One coat over white
A rainbow neon glitter topper with pink, magenta, orange, green, and blue neon glitters. The glitter density was good and it's just so FUN! You may have seen something like this from indie brands before, but it's pretty cool to see a major brand embracing the neon glitter.

Let the Beat Drop - One coat over white
A neon glitter topper with pink, magenta, and orange glitters.

Can I Get An Untz Untz - One coat over white
A neon glitter topper with blue, green, and purple glitters.

Daisy Know My Name? - One coat over white
I wish my camera had been able to accurately convey how neon this one is! It's a super bright neon yellow, especially when layered over white. It went on smoothly and evenly.

DJ Blue My Mind - Two coats over white
I'm pretty obsessed with this gorgeous deep sky blue creme. Of the two blues in this collection, this one is my pick.

Glow With the Flow - Two thin coats over white
This is another one where the brightness just did not translate well to my camera. This bright pink creme is super gorgeous. It's very Barbie-esque, but in the best of ways.

Home Sweet House Music - Two coats over white
A neon creamsicle orange. So citrusy, cheery, and bright!

PLUR-ple - Two coats over white
A bright purple creme. I'm obsessed with this shade of purple. So deliciously bright. It went on a little streaky but mostly evened out after the second coat.

Red-y to Rave - Two coats over white
A bright neon traffic cone red-orange. This is another standout for me, it's great!

Treble Maker - Two coats over white
A bright kelly green.

UV Meant to Be - Two coats over white
A light sky blue creme. This is the lighter counterpart to DJ Blue My Mind. A great pool blue for summer!

Violet Vibes - Three coats over white
The bright magenta huge on this one is gorgeous, but I found the formula to be a bit finicky. It was streaky for the first two coats but evened out on the third.

Overall, I found the formulas to be on the thinner side. During application, it was best to get a slightly larger bead of polish than I would normally use, and polish it on to the nail with a light touch to minimize streaks.

As you may have noticed, I decided to swatch all of these over a white base to boost the brightness. I wasn't sure which ones would need it and which ones wouldn't. As it turned out, not all of them needed it. You can check out jessface90's swatch video to see many of them swatched alone.

I wish that the neon-ness of these had come across more clearly! They're bright and happy and lovely. Overall, it's a classically China Glaze collection full of bold, fun colors and trend-setting glitters. This collection is set to release in April, so start gearing up for summer now!

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Neon Glow In the Dark Nail Polish by Serum No. 5

Here's a combination of words that's sure to get you excited... Neon. Glow in the dark. Nail polish. Serum No. 5 has you covered on all three bases with their line of neon glow shades, and while a couple of them dry a little bumpier than others, these glows are sure to find a place in everyone's heart.

I Gleam In Pink is a hot pink creme shade that glows orange in the dark. I used two coats for the coverage shown here. This is one of the more naturally textured shades in the bunch. You'll likely need at least two coats of topcoat if you want to get it nice and smooth.

Indi-Glo is my faaaaavorite. This gorgeous bright cobalt blue glows blue in the dark and covers perfectly in two coats. It also has one of the smoothest finishes, with the final look barely affected by the glow pigment.

Infrared is a bright orange-red that glows magenta/violet in the dark. I used two coats for the coverage here. I had a hard time seeing the glow of this one with my naked eye, and it was tough to capture in photos, as well. It has a pretty high texture, so you may need an extra coat of topcoat to smooth it out.

Krypton-Brite is a neon green shade that glows green in the dark. I used three coats for the coverage shown here and it was nicely smooth, with a finish that seems virtually unaffected by the glow pigment.

Orange You Sunny is a neon orange shade that glows orange-yellow in the dark. I used two coats for the coverage shown below. The texture from the glow pigment was not too noticeable in this one, and I love the color.

Solar Power is a neon yellow shade that glows yellow-green in the dark. I love yellows! I used three coats for the coverage here. The glow texture on this one was VERY low, it applied very smoothly, and it glowed brightly in the dark. A winner, if you ask me!

Ultra Violet is a purple shade with a dash of teeny blue flecks that glows indigo in the dark. You can see the little glitters in the photo below, but in person, they all but disappear. I used two coats here and the polish applied smoothly.

So, we've discussed the texture that may accompany these shades due to the nature of the glow pigment. If it's a dealbreaker for you, stick with Indi-Glo, Solar Power, and Krypton-Brite, as those were the smoothest in my experience. Ultra Violet and Orange You Sunny were slightly more textured, though still pretty smooth, while Infrared and I Gleam In Pink had the roughest finish straight out of the bottle.

Due to the nature of these shades, they may dry matte as well. I've used topcoat for all of my swatches here to give them a glossy appearance.

Serum No. 5 shades are available via www.serumno5.com. You can also catch the brand on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Disclosure: Products provided for review. All opinions are my own.

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This One's For My Mom: Circus Animal Cookie Nail Art

My mom is unable to eat chocolate, so she's always had a few non-chocolatey sweet treats she favors. Peppermint ice cream, German raspberry candies, and Circus Animal cookies were some of her top picks when I was growing up. Personally, my pick out of those would be the Circus Animals! I've always loved the colors of the rainbow sprinkles against the pink or white frosting. Chocolate preferences aside, it's pretty hard to resist their sugary sweetness.

Mom, this one goes out to you!

Nail polishes used:
Salon Perfect Sugar Cube
Formula X Gemini
Formula X Pyrotechnic
China Glaze Sky High Top
OPI Do You Have This Color In Stock-holm?
OPI Suzi Has a Swede Tooth
OPI Good Grief!
Sally Hansen Sun Kissed
Sally Hansen Going Green

This look is simple and quick. All you need is a dotting tool and the right colors! Truthfully, choosing colors took the most time because I thought getting the right shades was imperative for recreating the Circus Animal sprinkles look.

This is also my manicure for The Lacquer Legion's Yummy prompt, because they are yummy in my tummy (duh).

Have you had these delicious cookies before? In working on this post, I just discovered a recipe for Circus Animal truffles, which I will have to make AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

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Rainbow Pinwheel Nail Art

Ah, the rainbow prompt of the 31 Day Challenge. So bright, so happy! I've done some rainbow pinwheel nail art -- it also reminds me of the top of an umbrella, for some reason. I went for the brightest, most cheerful colors I could find, and freehanded the design over a white base.

Nail polishes used:
China Glaze You Drive Me Coconuts (pink)
China Glaze Sun Worshiper (orange)
China Glaze Yellow Polka Dot Bikini (yellow)
China Glaze Kiwi Cool-ada (green)
China Glaze Too Yacht to Handle (aqua)
China Glaze Sunday Funday (blue)
China Glaze That's Shore Bright (purple)

I started out with a white base, and then freehanded spiraling blocks of color. I rotated the block placement between each nail for more visual interest. Then, I outlined the sections with black and a small nail art brush. I finished with topcoat and that was that!

I didn't think I'd have as much trouble with this prompt as I did. Unfortunately, it was the first of my challenge stumbling blocks this year. Though I ended up with a design that I actually do like a lot, I tried probably 4 or 5 other manicures before arriving here! So frustrating at the time, but I feel good about it now.

This manicure photographed a little streaky, but of course it doesn't look like that at all in person. The struggle is real.

Taste the rainbow:

• Rainbow half moons with cloud French tips
• Rainbow gradient with black and white glitter
• Lady Rainicorn from Adventure Time

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Rubik's Cube Nail Art

I'll admit it, I kind of hate Rubik's Cubes. I'm nowhere near smart enough or patient enough to be able to solve them on my own, and usually give up after 30 seconds of twisting the thing around. But! They are cool looking, and an icon of the 80's. So when I saw that Salon Perfect had come out with a glitter topper inspired by the infamous Cube, I had to do some nail art to match.

The first polish I grabbed for this nail art was Salon Perfect Ruby's Cubes from the new Top of the Class collection (available at Wal-Mart). It was the inspiration, after all! I layered one coat of it over black on my pinky, pointer, and thumb.

For the Cube nails, I started with a base of Essie Blanc (white). Then, I painted squares in the Rubik's colors with the following shades, leaving some spaces unpainted for the white squares:
Zoya Arizona (orange)
American Apparel Downtown LA (red)
Lakur Paddington Blue (blue)
Essie Mojito Madness (green)
Nicole by OPI Hit the Lights (yellow)

Next, I painted black lines between the cubes to mimic the black blocks behind the colored stickers. The final step was to round the corners of the blocks. (PS, did anyone peel off the stickers and then re-stick them to pretend like you had solved it? Fess up!)

I think Rubik's Cube nail art is the only way I can enjoy this classic 80's toy. What about you? Did you ever solve one?

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