Pretty and Polished Swatches - Lean Mean Aquamarine and Maleficium

Hi guys! Did you miss me? I've been sick all week, along with everyone else in my household. Let me tell you, it's not easy fighting the flu when you also have to take care of two kids (one who is just a toddler) who also have the same flu. There was a lot of tv watching. I'm slowly starting to feel better so I figured it was time to get back to blogging.

I'm really excited for today's post actually, I really wanted to have this one up last week but it was just not possible between the coughing fits and the fevers. A couple of weeks ago, Chels, one half of the wife-husband team behind indie brand Pretty and Polished, asked the fan group for bloggers for the new collections. I jumped at the chance and will admit to letting out a squeal of excitement when she asked for my address. There was even more squealing when the package actually arrived. I have two brand new shades to share with you, a holo and a flakie so make sure you read on after the break for all the swatches and my review!

Let's start with Lean Mean Aquamarine, the perfect light teal/aqua polish. This is my favorite color of all time, in polish and in life. This beauty is a holographic with a somewhat satin finish indoors. It's slightly sheer, I did 3 thin coats for full opacity. You could also do 2 thicker ones but I prefer the thinner coats. It has a tendency to show brushstrokes so you want to be real careful not to go over the same area too many times.

The holographic glitter will look silver indoors, which is actually really pretty. The dry time for this one is average, I didn't topcoat it so I could show you guys the natural finish and it took about 30 minutes for my nails to be completely dry.

Like all holographic polishes, you really need to see this in the sun to fully capture the sparkle. Lucky for me, I had plenty of that. Enjoy!

As you guys can see, it's a very subtle holographic effect but I think it's just so pretty! This is perfect for spring and summer.

Up next, Maleficium, a flakie from the new Dark Arts collection!

Maleficium is a white crelly polish full of multicolor, color-shifting flakies! The formula for this is excellent! Really smooth and easy to apply. It also took 3 thin coats to achieve opacity. I applied this like regular polish, not with my dabble technique. The flakies are really thin and it's not textured or gritty like glitter can be, it dries completely smooth on the nail and removes easily with nail polish remover.

What I really loved about Maleficium are the way the flakes change color. You can see them embedded in the different layers and the ones on top sparkle all colors of the rainbow. I can already see this one being a great base for some nail art.

So what do you guys think of these new Pretty and Polished colors? There's a bunch more that just released yesterday so make sure you check out www.shopprettyandpolished.com to see all the new releases. You can also go follow them on Facebook and Instagram to see all the swatches and reviews from the different bloggers.

I got Lean Mean Aquamarine and Maleficium as press samples in exchange for swatches and an honest review. You can get your own for $8.50 each over at www.shopprettyandpolished.com. Oh and the new colors are all 5 Free!

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