Pam's Girly Bits: Stormy Skies and Street Magic helps you Sea's the Day

I'm really excited to show you a couple polishes from the Pam's first Girly Bits collection: Sea's the Day today! Pam, a fellow Canadian blogger, has really exceeded expectations with these lovelies. Really, not much intro is needed when these two can speak for themselves. First up, the packaging and after the jump, the polishes themselves!

The packaging it comes in. Very Girly (Bits)!

I love the personalized touches. Really shows the love put into these.

The pretties!

The rhinestones add a bit of bling to the bottles.

Awesome sized brush despite the smaller bottles.

Bottle size comparison with a full-sized China Glaze polish.

If it wasn't obvious why I picked these two, let me spell out for you: blue grey and duochrome. Stormy Skies is dainty as can be and the Street Magic is one of the strongest green/orange duochrome I've ever seen that it was such a joy to photograph.

The Quick Take

Brand/Name: Girly Bits Stormy Skies 

Color: Pale blue grey

Formula: Pale blue grey sheer base with green/gold microglitter

Finish: Glitter

The Fun Facts

Pam describes Stormy Skies as "a medium grey that leans a little to the dusty teal side..[with] a hint of microglitter that shows gold or green, depending on the skies". That's a pretty accurate description. It applies sheer, almost jelly-like, but dries without the high shine that is associated with jellies. I think it might be because of the microglitter as there is a bit of texture to the finish without top coat. I needed three coats for full coverage, with the formula thicker than I expected but certainly nothing that was hard to work with. 

***All nail swatches were done with Orly Bonder base coat and three coats of Girly Bits Stormy Skies unless otherwise stated.

No top coat/Natural light/No flash

Still shiny even without top coat but definitely with a bit of texture.

No top coat/Artificial light/No flash

The three thin coats I used could have probably used another one. Or, instead, two thick coats for maximum coverage.

No top coat/Artificial light/With flash

Hammie says: The only Stormy Skies I'd be happy to see!

I was initially apprehensive about application when I saw how cute the bottles were. But the brushes it came with are pretty spectacular. I'd say they're comparable in bristle length to a Zoya brush but with a shorter handle (of course!). The comparison doesn't end there. These are made of pliable bristles that fan out to make application easy despite the thicker formula. Dry time was fast, maybe a 3-5 minute time frame. Now, since it IS a glitter polish, you'd think removal will be a pain. But I guess it's because of the smaller glitter size and the fact that these are fairly dispersed that removal wasn't a problem at all. (Whew!)

With top coat/Natural light/No flash

Now it looks like a nice, squishy jelly! <3

 With top coat/Artificial light/No flash

Hammie says: Can I get some blue grey love?

 With top coat/Artificial light/With flash

Hammie says: I swear, this looks more blue to me than grey.

Top coat makes everything better! It really brought out the jelly nature of Stormy Skies. Now that I think about it, it reminds me of Illamasqua Raindrops (except Raindrops has silver micro flakies) or Butter London Lady Muck (silver microglitter). No exact dupes, but definitely in good company!

The Quick Take

Brand/Name: Girly Bits Street Magic 

Color: Green to bronze/orange duochrome layering polish

Formula: Clear base with duochrome shimmer particles (I think..?) 

Finish: Shimmer

The Fun Facts

Street Magic really is magic. This is quickly climbing the list of my top ten favorite duochromes. It's such a strong shift that you don't really need to do much to see both colors on the nail. I layered this over Nars Zulu and watched it transform an already awesome deep green jelly into something mesmerizing. Behold:

***This is one, yes ONE, thin layer of Street Magic over 3 coats of Nars Zulu.

 First, we see it in all its green glory...

 ..till it shifts to yellow/yellow orange..

 ..to a bronze-y shade..

 ..and finally, bright orange!

The formula on Street Magic is spot on. Just the right consistency, going on nice and even with a single coat. Honestly, I've been wracking my brain for any possible dupe but there is nothing out there that looks anything like this. (Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. :P) The fact that it's a top coat makes me giddy just thinking about all the possibilities I can explore with this.

The Low Down

I think that Pam truly did a wonderful job with these two. If the other polishes in the collection come anywhere close to these, I'd say she hit it well out of the ball park. Interested to grab your own bottles or see more of the collection? Head over to Pam's Girly Bits for more information. As of yet, the collection is available online, through her blog with each 5mL bottle costing $6 USD each. Value for price might be questionable since you get so little polish for the cost but when you consider that these are essentially bottled dreams made real, then it's a small price to pay for fantastic polishes. Really, the only complaint I have is that these don't come in bigger bottles! (How about it, Pam? :D)

Hammie enjoyed these very much. He thinks Street Magic is a definite must have for any duochrome fanatic. He says the bottles are just as cute as he is. (In all honesty, I think he's thrilled that he can use both hands and actually paint his own toenails, something he can't do with full-sized bottles). He scores Stormy Skies and Street Magic:

10 Hammie Points!

What do you think of Girly Bits polishes? Have you tried any polishes from independent retailers (not the brand name kind)? Which color from the Sea's the Day collection is calling your name?