Watch Me Swatch! Gelish® Shake Up the Magic! Collection

Happy new year! It’s finally 2021, and what better way to kick it off than with some new Gelish polish swatches?!? I had a blast swatching the beautiful and unique colors in the Shake Up The Magic collection, and my video is posted on the Smoke & Mirrors YouTube channel.

Image © Smoke & Mirrors Nail Blog 2021

Do you have the Shake Up The Magic collection yet? What’s your favorite color in the collection? Let me know in the comments below!

Watch Me Swatch the Gelish® Disney Villains

Our swatch video for the the Fall 2020 Gelish collection, Disney Villains, is now available on the Smoke & Mirrors YouTube channel.

Check it out if you’re interested in seeing how smoothly these colors apply! In the video, I’m swatching using the Mini size bottles, but these colors are also available in the full size bottles.

Image from Gelish

Note that 1) these polishes were purchased BY ME for testing and use; 2) This is NOT a sponsored video; and 3) The Smoke and Mirrors Nail Blog and YouTube channel is not affiliated with Gelish®.

More information about these products can be found at Gelish.com.

Gelish The Color of Petals live swatches

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My swatch video for the new Gelish spring 2019 collection The Color of Petals – released today – is up on the Smoke & Mirrors YouTube channel. If you like seeing real-time swatches before you purchase a color, be sure reference this video.

Spoiler alert: These are all gorgeous neutral polishes that would be great to add to your collection. Only one of them is a shimmer, and the other five are cremes. They’re perfect for work, spring weddings, dances, picnics, first dates, and everything in between.

You really can’t go wrong with a good neutral polish, and several of these fit the bill.  They’d be great for someone looking for a few solid muted colors, to keep on hand during the whole year.

I also received my order very quickly – about 5 days, which is awesome for free shipping.  These cost less than $5 for 50, so you’re looking at 10 cents each.The swatch sticks that I reference in the video are from natural color swatch sticks (available from eBay). I’ve received some questions lately about them, and promised I’d post the link. There’s no prep needed with these, if you don’t want to… I used to buff them and use base coat, but found that it’s not necessary. Now I just go straight away to the first color coat.

Have you already picked up any of these lovely spring colors? Let me know in the comments!

Gelish Forever Fabulous swatches!!

Swatches for the full Gelish Holiday 2018 Marilyn Monroe Forever Fabulous collection, done in real-time, are now available to see on the Smoke & Mirrors YouTube channel. All twelve colors!
The colors include:

• Batting My Lashes – deep mahogany crème
• Wish Upon a Starlet – red shimmer
• I Prefer Millionaires – copper plum pearl
• Ice or No Dice – gold glitter
• A Kiss from Marilyn – bright red crème
• She’s a Natural – soft nude crème
• The Camera Loves Me – burgundy crème
• Blue-Eyed Beauty – baby blue crème
• Some Like It Red – bright red glitter
• Diamonds Are My BFF – fine silver glitter
• Hollywood’s Sweetheart – rosy pink crème
• Wrapped In Satin – snowy blue shimmer

Please check out the swatch video and leave me a comment!

Gelish Just for You collection live swatches now available!

 

These colors are actually a couple years old but I was only just able to find them for sale to/in the U.S. Here’s the collection I think is called Just for You 3, but I’ve also seen it referred to as the Secrets collection. (More info on that soon!) Regardless, these beautiful colors were new-to-me, and I had to have them:

Though there’s a chill in the morning air to remind us that fall is coming, I’m not quite ready to give up on summer, and I’m currently wearing Sun Kissed Bliss and A Tribe Called Cool from this collection.  Check out my post on that nail art coming soon!

If you prefer to see “live” swatches for this collection, please check out the Smoke & Mirrors YouTube channel. And leave a comment letting us know if you’ve bought these, and which is your favorite!

Gelish African Safari live swatches!

Prefer to see swatches “live”? My Gelish Fall 2018 African Safari collection swatches, done in real-time, are available for viewing on the Smoke & Mirrors YouTube channel!

Please check out the swatch video and leave me a comment!

Gelish Make A Splash Swatches

The Summer 2018 Make a Splash collection from Gelish is available now. “The summer collection has an emphasis on fun-in-the-sun with its vibrant and eye-catching shades,” says Danny Haile, CEO and Founder of Gelish. “Even if you can’t live on the beach or at the pool all summer, your nails will make you feel that way!”

Here are the beautiful, summer-centric colors… Get your sunblock and lounge chair ready!

• Cellophane Coat – front and center in the photo above, an iridescent overlay, is one of my favorite “Trends” colors yet. This topper is great by itself, as seen in the bottom of the swatches below, or on top of almost any Gelish color.
• Feeling Swim-sical – teal creme, a very smooth polish. Use three coats for deeper color. (This is the only color I did three coats of for my swatches below.)
• Flamingo Float – coral pink with a shimmer. This is one of two polishes in the collection with a shimmer finish that I am loving. It really differentiates the polish from others of a similar shade.
• Flip-Flops and Tube Tops – fuschia with a shimmer. This polish also has the shimmery finish that draws the eye. These two might be my favorites in the collection! Which is saying a lot because I love the bright greens, like…
• Limonade In The Shade – neon green creme, so eye-catching! The below swatch shows two coats. Use a white base or three coats to add even more punch to this bold color!
• One Piece or Two? – deep purple creme, probably the darkest color in the collection, but seems like it will pair well with the teal, orange, or green for some trendy nail art. The below photo shows just two coats! This color has great coverage.
• You’ve Got Tan-gerine Lines – orange neon creme, and this color looks like summer in a bottle to me.  Again, you could give it some pop by using a coat of white underneath or using three coats. The below photo shows just two coats.

This collection is even better in person, and I’m really excited to get started using it. I think we can get create some really cool nail art with it, too. All the polishes apply smoothly, as we’ve come to expect from Gelish, and have surprisingly good coverage. It’s really hard to get a formula for the neons that provides good coverage in just two coats. Gelish did an excellent job with these… You can tell their R&D department is on its toes!

Note that I personally purchased this collection, and this is not a sponsored post. I just really like the product!

To see these colors in action, please visit again in a few days – We’ll be posting the live swatches for this collection to the Smoke & Mirrors YouTube channel soon!

 

 

Gelish Holiday 2017 Little Miss Nutcracker Collection Swatches

The new Gelish Holiday Collection, called Little Miss Nutcracker, has been released, and the Smoke and Mirrors YouTube channel has swatches for you! Please check out the video and let me know what you like, or any constructive criticism you have.

 

My, Myself-ie and I

As we enter the final weeks of summer 2017, I felt some neon pink nails were in order. This is Gelish Me, Myself-ie and I, from the Selfie collection, with some hand-painted nail art. Some nails are topped with All That Glitters Is Gold from the original Gelish Trends collection. I used black and white acrylic paints, a striping brush and a dotting tool to paint the design. This design was done on enhancements (tips) done with Gelish Dip, and not only do they look pretty good but they’re holding up very well!

Check out how beautifully all the colors work together in this collection:

Here’s a photo of my entire Gelish Mini Selfie collection. I rarely buy the mini sizes any more, but decided to purchased them in the smaller size for this collection because neons don’t see a lot of use from my current clients.

This summer I’m loving the corals and pinks in this collection. What about you? What’s your favorite Selfie color?

Gelish Collections Swatches

 Check out my new page with pictures of Gelish swatches grouped by collection. Additional pictures coming soon!