SoFlaJo Blue Martini from the Happy Hour Collection

This post is very meaningful to me because the nail polish I'm blogging about is from a fellow blogger here in Florida, Jody of SoFlaJo.com, who also has her own indie line of polish.  She sent me a mini bottle of Blue Martini from her newest Happy Hour Collection for me to try.  Blue Martini is a blue jelly filled with multiple sizes of diamond glitter, short tinsel, and round holo glitters.  All of Jody's polish is made from natural pigments and glitters with bases free of Toluene, Formaldehyde, and DiButyl Pthalate.  Mini bottles are $5 on her site, and full sized bottles are $10.  Her shipping charge is low, too, and she has promotions at times where shipping is free!

Getting this polish just means so much to me in so many ways.  This is the first time I have received a sample of polish to review!  I can't believe she gave me a bottle to review when my blog is so new, and I don't have anywhere near as many followers as a lot of other blogs. And, I had been waiting until pay day to place an order for some SoFlaJo polishes, and Blue Martini was my #1 choice!  How does Jody know me so well???  Blue is my favorite color, followed closely by orange/coral.

You can see the Happy Hour Collection here.  She has done an amazing job with pictures of swatches on a nail wheel of the polishes by themselves and also layered over other polishes.  Go look!!!  Her macro shots of the polish colors are so sharp and amazing!

I wrote a post earlier about receiving this polish in the mail.  There are many pictures there of my swatches of the polish on a nail wheel and comparisons to other polishes I own.

We have had so many days of rain here in South Florida that the sun has not been out enough for good pictures in bright sunlight since before I put this polish on two days ago.  I had hoped that I would be able to take pictures in the sun to show the dazzling sparkle of the holo glitters, but I have consoled myself with the knowledge that there is just no way to take a bad picture of this polish because it's gorgeous in any light.

Let me start by saying that this polish is like the evening dress of nail polish.  It is gorgeous, sparkly, and is just so fancy!  It reminds me of a very sparkly midnight blue cocktail dress I had in my 20s.  To me this is the most gorgeous blue polish ever.

I tried swatching the polish over different colors on a nail wheel, but it looked prettiest to me over black creme.

The polish dried quickly, and it dried smooth with no sharp edges.  That's very important to me because a sharp edge can rip my pantyhose, and with all the trips to the bathroom I take during the day, any sharp edge on my nails would be sure to doom my pantyhose to an untimely end.

The base of the polish has a blue shimmer that glows.  Swatched by itself, the polish has aqua glitters and has an aqua tint. In indoor lighting the polish has diamond holo glitter that flashes aqua blue and sometimes teal green, short holo bar glitter (very small, so those who hate regular-size bar glitter should give this a chance), and holo glitter that all flash blue and sometimes teal green because of the base and its colored shimmer. This blue shimmer base turned my coat of black polish into a midnight blue-looking polish.

I didn't have to fish out any glitter. With just one coat of Blue Martini, I got two to five diamond glitters on each nail and plenty of short bar glitter, regular glitter, and pretty blue shimmer that glows.

This was my first time using black polish. It was also therefore my first time cleaning up black polish, but it was not hard, although I wasn't able to get all the black out from the edges, even after I showered and tried to pick off as much stray black as I could in the shower.

The glitter top coat was easy to apply, so there was hardly any glitter outside my nails, but what little there was cleaned up instantly and much more easily than the black underwear polish.

Even though I am only 1/5 of the way through my mini bottle after swatching and my manicure, I feel a strong urge to buy a backup bottle!


In the photos below, I have one coat of Sally Hansen Age Correct Growth (discontinued), one coat of Wet N Wild Black Creme, one coat of SoFlaJo Blue Martini, and a coat of Seche Vite.  In some pictures there is an additional coat of Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat that I put on this morning.  The Wet N Wild Black Creme dries to a very cool rubber-looking finish. The Blue Martini polish plays very nicely with Seche Vite.  I didn't notice any shrinkage, just some eventual minimal tip wear.

Indoors, with flash.  You can see the shimmer on the nail a little in this picture.

In my car, indirect daylight (but on a cloudy day).

In my office, under office lighting, with flash.  Here you can almost see what I am going to call the Hyperspace Drive effect where the holo bar glitters almost seem to be moving or passing by very quickly.

You can see a little of the shimmer here.

This is my pointer finger on my right hand.  My prior pictures are of my left hand.  I am right-handed, so I take pictures with my right hand of my left hand, and that's usually what I post.  But, on this picture of my right index finger, you can see what I call the midnight blue color and shimmer of Blue Martini over a black polish.

Same finger, just love the holo, and I'm crazy about the diamond holo glitters!

Thank you for reading my blog!

Nail Mail and Beauty Mail!

I left work a little early today because I was feeling ill, probably from the lunch today in honor of our administrative assistants for Administrative Assistant Appreciation Day.  It was just the best day for me to find nail mail waiting for me at home!  And, I got beauty mail, too!

The nail mail is very special because it's from a fellow blogger here in Florida, Jody of SoFlaJo.com, who also has her own indie line of polish.  She sent me a mini bottle of Blue Martini from her newest Happy Hour Collection for me to try.  Blue Martini is a blue jelly filled with multiple sizes of diamond glitter, short tinsel, and round holo glitters.  All of Jody's polish is made from natural pigments and glitters with bases free of Toluene, Formaldehyde, and DiButyl Pthalate.  Mini bottles are $5 on her site, and full sized bottles are $10.  Her shipping charge is low, too, and she has promotions at times where shipping is free!

This nail mail just means so much to me in so many ways.  This is the first time I have received a sample of polish to review!  I can't believe she gave me a bottle to review when my blog is so new, and I don't have anywhere near as many followers as a lot of other blogs. And, I was waiting until the end of the month (pay day) to place an order for some SoFlaJo polishes, and Blue Martini was my #1 choice!  How does Jody know me so well???  You can see the Happy Hour Collection here.  She has done an amazing job with pictures of swatches on a nail wheel of the polishes by themselves and also layered over other polishes.  Go look!!!  Her macro shots of the polish colors are so sharp and amazing!  I wasn't able to take pictures even half as good as hers of the Blue Martini polish.

I'll be buying Pink Lady and Grasshopper (and maybe some more from this collection) after payday.  This week is a no-blue-or-glitter-manicure week for me because of an important hearing tomorrow morning and a conference/seminar on Friday, but as soon as this week is over, I am going to do a manicure with Blue Martini, maybe layered over black. I've never worn black polish before, layered or alone.  Double firsts this weekend!

Here are some pictures of the awesome nail mail from Jody of SoFlaJo.com:

The bottle was very secure in bubble wrap and was sealed with bright and beautiful , colorful tape!

It's like she delivered a mini-party to me!  The bottle has a very pretty label, and it has a very nice color-coordinated ribbon around the handle.  And, there was party confetti and a magic wand in my favorite blue color again!  The wand has a hibiscus on it, I believe.  That's a very pretty flower we see a lot here in South Florida.  And, the confetti is awesome!  I scrapbook, so I will be using the confetti in a layout, maybe a layout about receiving this first polish ever to review!

I tried to get some bottle shots of the polish, but Jody's pictures on her website are much better.  Here's the best I could do with my iPhone's camera:

DIAMOND GLITTER!    Oooooh!!!

And, although the swatches on a nail wheel are better on Jody's website, here are some pictures I took at home, because, of course, even feeling ill, I couldn't wait to swatch the GORGEOUS bottle of happiness that Jody sent to me!  On top is the polish by itself, two coats, and below is just one coat of the polish over one coat of black.  Can you believe how gorgeous it is over black and how much glitter is packed in one coat?

Application was super-easy.  You don't have to worry about not getting enough glitter or having to fish for any particular shape of glitter in the bottle!  And, there is no problem with placement of the glitter; it goes on evenly with the first brush stroke.

I compared the Blue Martini polish to a few other polishes I own.  There were no dupes, and nothing is as dazzlingly beautiful, not even close.

Top left is Blue Martini over Wet N Wild Black Creme.  Top right is Blue Martini by itself.  Below that is Sinful Colors Kissy on the left and Nail Junkie on the right.

On the left, top to bottom, is Essie School of Hard Rocks, Revlon Radiant, and OPI Austin-Tatious Turquoise.  On the right is Blue Martini over black and by itself.  The closest polish I own is Revlon Radiant, and it is nowhere near as beautiful as Blue Martini. Revlon Radiant doesn't have diamond glitter, either!

And now for the Beauty Mail!  I can't believe I got Nail Mail *and* Beauty Mail all on the same day!  The beauty mail was the free Beauty Bag from Target that I mentioned in this post on April 6th, the day I ordered the free Beauty Bag.  The samples I got were different from the samples in the picture of the offer from Target, but they are very nice samples.  Here are some pictures of the Beauty Bag and its contents:

The bag is pretty, and it's nicely padded, so I will probably use it to transport nail polish when I go on trips.

On the upper-right of the picture above, that's a coupon booklet with discounts for beauty products at Target.  I looked through it, and there are some nice $1 off and $2 off coupons for brands like Cover Girl and Maybelline.  But then I got to a coupon that made me stop and pull out my camera again:

Oh my!!!  I may be a lover of nail polish, but I'm a magnetic polish junkie!!!!  I have 15 bottles of different magnetic polish from different brands.  I cannot wait to see these Sally Hansen magnetic polishes at a local store!  Please, if any of you see these polishes in your local stores, let me know where you spotted them!  Wow, these will be the first magnetic polishes available at my local Target, Walgreens and CVS stores!  Up until now, when I've asked salespeople whether they will be carrying any magnetic polish, I have had to explain to them what magnetic polish is because they had never even heard of such a thing, let alone heard of them planning to offer it in the future at their stores!

Oh, thank you so much, Jody, for your incredibly thoughtful, sweet, and very special to me nail mail!  I am no longer feeling sick, so your nice surprise cured me!  :-)

Thank you for reading my blog!