Nibs & Nails Presents Cameo Colours Lacquers Caroube de Chypre (Inspired by J Herbin Ink): Swatches and Giveaway!

*press sample*

Hi guys! I can finally welcome you back to Nibs & Nails. You know, the segment where I ask indie makers to dupe (or just be inspired by) popular fountain pen inks. I know it has been a hot minute since I've posted one of these, but you know...life. Tonight features the brand Cameo Colours Lacquers. Don't forget, Cameo's Spring Collection is out right now and I reviewed them on the blog a couple weeks ago (link here). If you haven't checked Cameo out, I definitely recommend you do so! I asked her to work on the latest shimmery J Herbin ink, Caroube de Chypre. Stay tuned to the end of the post for your chance to win this exclusive shade!

As always, to see an in-depth review of the ink, please check out my husband's blog post on Inkdependence. Without further ado, let's get started!

Nibs & Nails Presents Lemming Lacquer Pools of Golden Sand (Inspired by Diamine Ink): Swatches and Giveaway!

*press sample*

Hi guys! Welcome back to another installment of Nibs & Nails. You know, the segment where I ask indie makers to dupe (or just be inspired by) popular fountain pen inks. I know it has been a hot minute since I've posted one of these, but you know...holidays. I wanted to make sure to get another giveaway started before next week so here we are. Today we are featuring a popular indie maker named Lemming Lacquer. If you aren't a part of the beauty world, you may not know what a lemming is. A lemming is something you want really bad. In all actuality, a lemming is a cute little rodent much like you see on the Lemming Lacquer label. I have no idea how the lemming rodent started to describe a highly sought-after product, but the internet, I guess. Anyway, I really started lemming Lemming Lacquer when the owner, Cassie, made a huge Archer collection. My husband is the biggest Archer fan and I think she did an awesome job with the inspiration. 

Today's fountain pen ink we are duping is from the Diamine Shimmertastic collection called Shimmering Sands. To see more pictures and a review of the ink, head over to my husband's blog Inkdependence. Make sure to stay tuned to the end of the post for a chance to win this polish!

Come on, how did Cassie do it? The polish Pools of Golden Sand is pretty much an exact dupe of the Diamine ink. You can see how the ink can take on a mustard color in more saturated areas and a lighter gold in areas with 1 pass of ink. It is harder to see the shimmer in the ink in my photos, so make sure to stop by Inkdependence for better pictures of the ink. 

Lemming Lacquer Pools of Golden Sand (3 coats)

Lemming Lacquer Pools of Golden Sand (3 coats, matte)

For once, the matte version of the polish makes it even closer to the ink. I used 3 coats for the photos above, but you could definitely get away with 2. I used the 3rd coat to add some depth and to make the shimmer really pop. I enjoy the shape of the Lemming Lacquer bottle. Most indie brands use the same cylindrical shape, so I like brands that like to step outside the box (i.e. Great Lakes Lacquer, Lemming Lacquer, Femme Fatale). The formula was quite fantastic, and I really liked the long, flat brush. If bath and body products are more your style, Cassie also has has scrubs, lotions, cuticle balm, and mani bombs available. Overall, I'm really impressed with Lemming Lacquer. 

Unfortunately Pools of Golden Sand will not be available for purchase in her store. On the bright side, I have 1 bottle (and a couple mani bombs) to give away to 1 lucky winner! Please let me know if you have any questions.

Giveaway Rules:

1. Open to the US Only 
2. Please do not use giveaway or empty accounts. Winners will be checked for verification.
3. You must be at least 18 years old to enter
4. The giveaway will end on Dec. 31, 2016 (EST)
5. One winner will be chosen randomly by Rafflecopter. They will have 48 hrs to respond before a new winner is chosen.
6. Please do not immediately unfollow after the giveaway ends. :-(

a Rafflecopter giveaway



*This polish was provided by the company or PR representative. All reviews are based solely on my opinion. For more information, please see my full disclosure at the bottom of the site*

Nibs & Nails Presents Pretty Jelly Polish in Heart of the Bleu Ocean (Inspired by J. Herbin's Bleu Ocean) Swatches and Review

*press sample*

Hi guys! Welcome back to another installment of Nibs & Nails. You know, where we ask popular indie nail polish brands to dupe (or just be inspired by) fountain pen inks with shimmer or sheen. This post was supposed to be up on Friday, but life happened. Work was really crazy on Friday and I just couldn't even focus on editing photos. I hope this beautiful polish from Pretty Jelly makes up for my tardiness. This ink may look slightly familiar to you because I've shown another ink that is a dark blue with gold shimmer from Diamine called Shimmering Blue Seas. Mariah from Great Lakes Lacquer made that one, and later in this post I'll show you how the 2 polishes compare.

Pretty Jelly is a brand I didn't know that much about until recently. The owner and maker, Liz, started out as a nail blogger (Liquid Jelly) and started making polish back in 2012. Now that I've had the chance to try them, I definitely need to get some more!

As always, make sure to check out my husband's ink blog, Inkdependence, to see a full review on tonight's ink from J. Herbin called Bleu Ocean.

J. Herbin Bleu Ocean ink swatch with 2 coats of Pretty Jelly in Heart of the Bleu Ocean

The ink is a dark royal blue that is almost a navy color in the saturated spots. The shimmer ink both the ink and nail polish is more pronounced in real life when compared to my photos. Overall, the polish may be ever-so-slightly lighter than the ink, but it's still really close! 

Pretty Jelly Heart of the Bleu Ocean (2 coats, with topcoat)

Pretty Jelly Heart of the Bleu Ocean (2 coats, matte)

There's that beautiful shimmer! The shimmer is almost more of a flakie shimmer that has a little purple/pink in there. Oh, and the formula was amazing! It had almost a whipped formula that was a breeze to apply. Since this is more of a jelly formula (which makes the brand name even more appropriate!) I thought it might need 3 coats, but it was almost a 1 coater!

So how does this compare to Great Lakes Lacquer polish The Shimmering Gold Sea from several weeks ago?

It's closer than I thought it'd be! The Pretty Jelly polish is a jelly while I found The Shimmer Gold Sea more of a crelly. The Shimmering Gold Sea is also a little darker with a bit more purple to it which can also been seen in the inks as well.

So there you have it, what do you think? Liz did a fantastic job, and I can't wait to make an order! For more information on Pretty Jelly, check out their website, Facebook, Intagram, or Twitter pages.

*This polish was provided by the company or PR representative. All reviews are based solely on my opinion. For more information, please see my full disclosure at the bottom of the site*

Nibs & Nails Presents Ever After Polish in Forest Green (Inspired by Magical Forest Diamine Ink) | Swatches and Giveaway

*press sample*

Hi guys! I'm finally back with another installment of Nibs & Nails, where I ask popular indie brands to dupe (or just be inspired by) fountain pen inks. Tonight I have Rachel from Ever After Polish doing the Diamine Shimmertastic ink named Magical Forest. I've purchased Ever After Polishes in the past, and I have another color waiting in the queue. Stay tuned to the end of the post to win the polish featured tonight.

As always, my husband has a fountain pen blog that will have an in-depth review of Magical Forest here.

Diamine's Magical Forest

Most of the inks thus far have had gold sheen and shimmer, but I'm happy that Magical Forest breaks this mold with silver shimmer. The shimmer isn't quite as apparent in this ink compared to previous weeks, but it's still beautiful. 

Ever After Polish Forest Green (2 coats)

The base color of Forest Green matches really closely to Magical Forest, right? Good job, Rachel! The shimmer looks a bit more gold than silver, and I think there is a little bit of  holo shimmer thrown in there as well. It's not a 100% exact dupe, but that's not always the point. The formula was smooth and pigmented in just 2 coats. 

Ever After Polish Forest Green (2 coats, matte)

Forest Green will not be released in the Ever After store, so definitely enter the giveaway to win this color. Also be sure to check out the Ever After store to see the other polishes and bath and body products available now.

Giveaway Rules:

1. Open to the US Only (I'm so sorry my lovely international readers...I hope to have a non-polish giveaway for everyone so it will be easier to ship)
2. Please do not use giveaway or empty accounts. Winners will be checked for verification.
3. You must be at least 18 years old to enter
4. The giveaway will end on October 7th at midnight (EST)
5. One winner will be chosen randomly by Rafflecopter. They will have 48 hrs to respond before a new winner is chosen.
6. Please do not immediately unfollow after the giveaway ends. :-(

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*This polish was provided by the company or PR representative. All reviews are based solely on my opinion. For more information, please see my full disclosure at the bottom of the site*

Nibs & Nails Presents Polish 'M in Brandy Dazzle and Brandy Dazzle 2.0 (Inspired by Diamine Ink) | Swatches and Giveaway

*press sample*

Hi guys! Welcome back to another week of Nibs & Nails, where we ask indie makers to dupe (or just be inspired by) popular fountain pen ink. You still have a few hours left of last week's giveaway from Frenzy Polish, so get your entries in ASAP. Tonight we are honored to have Michelle from Polish 'M to make the Diamine Shimmertastic ink called Brandy Dazzle. When Michelle got the ink sample she ended up making 2 different polishes, one the color of the ink in the bottle, and 1 of the dried ink on paper. I had mentioned to a couple of the previous makers to try and go for the dried ink color, but I failed to tell Michelle this. I could tell she liked the color of the wet ink better, and I don't blame her! We will have 2 winners for the giveaway this week, so make sure to follow the post to the end.

As always, to see an in-depth review of the ink, please check out my husband's blog post on Inkdependence. Without further ado, let's get started!

Nibs & Nails Presents Frenzy Polish in Emerald of Chivor (Inspired by J Herbin Ink) | Swatches and Giveaway

*press samples*

Hi guys! Tonight is a bittersweet post because Frenzy Polish announced last week that she is closing her doors. I've been a huge fan of Rachel and her brand, so I am super bummed about it. Currently her store has been restocked and most polishes are still in stock, but the turnaround time is ~3 weeks. If you have ever wanted to try them, get purchasing now! If not, you still have 2 chances to win this week's Nibs & Nails polish inspired by the J Herbin ink called Emerald of Chivor. If you were still under the impression that fountain pen inks were boring, I think this ink will quickly change your mind. Information and giveaway widget can be found at the end of this post.

As I say every week, please head over to my husband's ink blog called Inkdependence for more swatches of the ink and his thoughts on how well it works in fountain pens.

Nibs & Nails Presents Anonymous Lacquer in As Good As Purple Pazzazz (Inspired by Diamine's Purple Pazzazz) | Swatches and Giveaway

*I bought this*

Hi guys! Welcome back to another week of Nibs & Nails, a feature where I ask indie makers to dupe (or just to be inspired by) popular fountain pen inks with shimmer or sheen. This week the spotlight is on Anonymous Lacquer. Mildred is the mastermind behind the brand, and she was actually the first maker to make a polish for this blog segment. Anonymous Lacquer is famous for their beautiful shimmer and holo finishes. I've been meaning to purchase for a long time, so I was excited to purchase a custom from her. Stay tuned to the end of the post for more information on this week's giveaway. 

As always, check out my husband's blog (Inkdependence) before looking at the swatches to get a sense of the ink this week's polish is based off of. 

Top: Diamine Purple Pazzazz ink

Middle: Anonymous Lacquer As Good as Purple Pazzazz (3 coats, matte)

Bottom: Anonymous Lacquer As Good as Purple Pazzazz (3 coats) 

On first glance, As Good as Purple Pazzazz is quite different than the ink, but I don't blame Mildred at all. Like I said above, this was the first custom I asked anyone to do, so not every aspect of the blog segment was thought through. All she had to go on was pictures from other blogs, and the picture she sent me of the polish she made looked really close to the ink. About a week after she finished the polish I had the great idea of having the makers get a sample of the ink so they could properly dupe the inks. 

Anonymous Lacquer As Good as Purple Pazzazz (3 coats)

All this being said, I still love how the polish turned out. I know I'm not the only purple fan, so I think lots of you will want to win this for your own collection. The ink is a bit more of a violet purple with gold shimmer, while the polish has more pink in it. You'll need 2 or 3 coats of the polish depending on your nail length. I used 3 coats for the photos above, but I wanted to make the color as dark as possible. 

Anonymous Lacquer As Good as Purple Pazzazz (3 coats, matte)

I think the mattified version is gorgeous, but the topcoat makes the polish lighter (and less like the ink).

Make sure to stop by the Anonymous Lacquer store where Mildred will make a custom polish of your dreams for just $12. Giveaway time!

Giveaway Rules:

1. Open to the US Only (I'm so sorry my lovely international readers...I hope to have a non-polish giveaway for everyone so it will be easier to ship)
2. Please do not use giveaway or empty accounts. Winners will be checked for verification.
3. You must be at least 18 years old to enter
4. The giveaway will end on August 19th at midnight (EST)
5. A winner will be chosen randomly by Rafflecopter. They will have 48 hrs to respond before new winners are chosen.
6. Please do not immediately unfollow after the giveaway ends. :-(

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Nibs & Nails Presents Contrary Polish in Stormy Grey (inspired by J Herbin Stormy Grey Ink) | Swatches and Giveaway!

*press sample*

Hi guys! Welcome back to yet another week of Nibs & Nails where we ask indie polish makers to dupe or simply be inspired by popular fountain pen inks with shimmer or sheen. There's still a few hours left in the Great Lakes Lacquer giveaway, and both polishes are now for sale in their Etsy store. Go purchase the duo for $15 or individually for $8.50. Tonight we invite a new brand to the blog...I've wanted to purchase from Contrary Polish for a long time, so I'm super thrilled to be able to work with Carrie. If you know anything about Contrary Polish, you know that she can rock a shimmer polish.

Up until now we have only looked at the ink brand Diamine, but there are other companies on the shimmer and sheen bandwagon. J Herbin is a French company and they were the first company to release an ink with shimmer and it's called Stormy Grey. I love grey polishes, and I love shimmer, so you can only imagine excited I am about this polish! Carrie was kind enough to provide a second polish for a giveaway, so stay tuned to the end of the post to enter!

As always, my husband has thoroughly reviewed J Herbin's Stormy Grey ink on his blog called Inkdependence. Let's get a better look at the ink and polish, shall we?

Nibs & Nails Presents Great Lakes Lacquer in Lightning Streaks Blue and The Shimmering Gold Sea (Inspired by Diamine) Swatches + Giveaway!

*purchased with a blogger discount*

Hi guys! Welcome back to yet another week of Nibs & Nails where we ask indie makers to dupe (or just be inspired) by popular fountain pen inks. Don't forget, last week's giveaway from Heather's Hues ends tonight at midnight so enter now! Tonight I welcome one of my favorite brands, Great Lakes Lacquer. If you haven't seen my swatches of her 1-year anniversary collection called The Great Ones from this past Sunday, you can see those here. Obviously she can rock a blue polish, so I asked her to work on 2 inks from the Diamine Shimmertastic set called Blue Lightning and Shimmering Seas. Stay with me to the end of the post to see how you can win these polishes (you will also be able to purchase your own set from Great Lakes Lacquer next week)! 

As always, my husband has his reviews of the inks on his blog (Inkdependence), so feel free to click here for more about Blue Lightning and here for Shimmering Seas. 

Nibs & Nails Presents Heather's Hues A Most Majestic Blue (Inspired by Diamine Majestic Blue) Swatches + Giveaway!

*press sample*

Welcome back to week 2 of Nibs & Nails! I basically provide an indie maker with a particular fountain pen ink for them to dupe (or just be inspired by). This week we welcome Heather's Hues to dupe a popular ink from the brand Diamine. Unlike many of the other inks I'll be showing in the coming weeks, I asked Heather to do one that does not have shimmer in it. Instead, when you put a lot of Majestic Blue on some good paper, you'll notice that there is almost a redish sheen to it. Duochrome anyone? It just so happens that tonight Heather is also releasing a collection called Day and Night tonight, so make sure to check out the site later tonight. She was also kind enough to provide a second bottle of A Most Majestic Blue for you guys, so check out the Rafflecopter widget below to enter now!

Also, make sure to check out what Inkdependence has to say about the ink before or after you read here.

Top: Diamine Majestic Blue

Middle: Heather's Hues A Most Majestic Blue (with topcoat)

Bottom: Heather's Hues A Most Majestic Blue (with matte topcoat)

It's really hard to tell in these photos, but Heather did a better job at duping this than it immediately appears. It looks like A Most Majestic Blue is a lot brighter than the ink, but if you look at where just a little bit of ink was laid down, the color is really similar to the polish. If you have a finer nib and less ink going on the paper, the swatches would look much more similar. Also, the red/pink duochrome sheen seen on the nail and bottle are pretty much nonexistent in the bright light here. Let's see if I can get a better picture of the duochrome. 

Heather's Hues A Most Majestic Blue (2 coats with topcoat)

Nope, so far I haven't done a better job at showing the duochrome. The polish is a bright blue shimmer with a subtle red/pink flash. It dries down to a satin finish without topcoat, and it actually looks really similar to what the ink dries to on paper (+1 for Heather!). As you can see, bright LED light is not the best to capture this warlock.

The next pictures were taken in both of my bathrooms. Yeah, they are blurry, but that's not the point. DO YOU SEE IT?! Man, not being able to capture the duochrome was killing me! And my finger hair is just gross, sorry.

Like I said before, this dries down to a satin finish, so here is what it looks like without a shiny topcoat:

There you have it! I hope you're enjoying this segment as much as I am. To win this polish, enter below. As far as I know, this will not be released in her store at this point, so you have the chance to win a pretty rare color.

Giveaway Rules:

1. Open to the US Only (I'm so sorry my lovely international readers...I hope to have a non-polish giveaway for everyone so it will be easier to ship)
2. Please do not use giveaway or empty accounts. Winners will be checked for verification.
3. You must be at least 18 years old to enter
4. The giveaway will end on July 15th at midnight (EST)
5. A winner will be chosen randomly by Rafflecopter. They will have 48 hrs to respond before new winners are chosen.
6. Please do not immediately unfollow after the giveaway ends. :-(

a Rafflecopter giveaway



*These polishes were provided by the company or PR representative. All reviews are based solely on my opinion. For more information, please see my full disclosure at the bottom of the site*

Nibs & Nails Presents the BLUSH Lacquers Polish in Red Lustre Lips (inspired by Diamine Red Lustre Ink) | Swatches and Giveaway!

*press sample*

Nibs & Nails is back and better than ever! Some of you may not remember, but way back in 2014 my husband and I had a Wordless Wednesday Nibs and Nails segment highlighting some of my nail polishes and his fountain pens. My husband also just-so-happens to have a popular ink and fountain pen blog called Inkdependence. We decided to join forces again to have indie brands dupe or just be "inspired by" popular inks made for fountain pens. This is just the beginning of many other great brands who have jumped on board to showcase their incredible talents. Many have also been gracious enough to include a polish to give away to a lucky winner! You will also be able to purchase your very own ink-inspired nail polish from a few brands (including the one I'm showing today). Some polishes will be one-of-a-kinds, while some will be for sale in the brand's store. I'm focusing more on the nail polish while my husband will be posting his review of the ink of the same day. Check out his blog post to supplement my post here. 

Without further ado, I would like to present this week's participant, BLUSH Lacquers. They are a new indie brand on the scene (the debut collection was released at the end of May), but they started off with a bang! There are several colors in the store I need to check out (their BLUSH box was released just today). The first ink I wanted to dupe was a Diamine Shimmertastic ink. Yup, there are inks with gold and silver shimmer in them! The more you know! 

BLUSH Lacquers Red Lustre Lips (2 coats with topcoat)

Working with Victoria from BLUSH Lacquers was so seamless. She's a newer brand, but don't think that means she doesn't know what she's doing. I am so imprssed with her version of the ink. It's a brick red (less brown and more red) with tons of gold shimmer. When comparing the polish to the original ink, it's slightly more pink and the shimmer shows up differently. There's nothing you can really do about the shimmer because the 2 bases are so vastly different. The brush on the bottle is long and thin and made it easy to apply in just 2 coats. If you take away the fact that this is inspired by a polish I like, I'd still love the polish on its own. I'm so used to applying topcoat that I didn't even think to mattify it at first. Here it is with a matte topcoat:

Now's the time to stop over to Inkdependence to see what's going on with the ink. Red Lustre Lips will be available in the BLUSH Lacquer Etsy site starting July 15th. I also have 1 bottle to give away to a lucky winner!

Giveaway Rules:

1. Open to the US Only (I'm so sorry my lovely international readers...I hope to have a non-polish giveaway for everyone so it will be easier to ship)
2. Please do not use giveaway or empty accounts. Winners will be checked for verification.
3. You must be at least 18 years old to enter
4. The giveaway will end on July 15th at midnight (EST)
5. A winner will be chosen randomly by Rafflecopter. They will have 48 hrs to respond before new winners are chosen.
6. Please do not immediately unfollow after the giveaway ends. :-(

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*These polishes were provided by the company or PR representative. All reviews are based solely on my opinion. For more information, please see my full disclosure at the bottom of the site*