Happy New Years!

The last few weeks have been pretty hectic.  I changed my nails maybe once!  Also, winter has not been kind on my nails, they have been dry and brittle and keep breaking!  Wah!  Well, I had to do my collaboration mani with my #nailquadsquad (check out the tag sometime ;)) on Instagram so I wanted to share them here too!  I used my favorite black polish, Essie Licorice, as the base and Sally Hansen Golden-I to write the numbers and draw the fireworks.  I also tried to add China Glaze Angel Wings to the fireworks.  You can kind of see it.  :)  I think this is a totally cute and simple mani for New Years!  I hope everyone is having a great day and Happy New Years to you all!

Here is the collage for our collaboration.  I think we did pretty good copying each othere!  We were inspired by Instagrammers @madjennsy and @mrcandiipants!

And here is my solo shot.

Christmas Tree Nail Art

Merry Christmas Eve!!  I was planning to do more Christmas themed nail art, but shoot time escaped me.  I did these last week and posted them on Instagram.  I had the idea of using Sharpie pens as nail art pens because I remember seeing them on Pinterest so many times before.  I am not an artist, so I wanted to do the simplest design.  I drew what fellow Instagramer @reinovate called a "minimalist Christmas tree" on my accent nail and stuck a star glitter on top.  I also dubbed it the "Christmas poop tree".  Because my tree looks like a cartoony pile of poop.  I still think it looks pretty cool.  Sharpies are great for a quick nail art doodle, but if you plan on keeping your mani on for a while the ink seemed to fade as the days went on.  I used like 3 coats of top coat so I think the chemicals in nail polish disintegrates the ink.

Hope you enjoyed my Christmas Poop Tree!

Hobby Polish Bloggers Winter Giveaway!!!

So excited to be part of a huge giveaway.  The prize is just so awesome!!  Hope everyone enters!  ;) The Hobby Polish Bloggers are having their second multi-blogger giveaway! To enter, please allow the Rafflecopter widget to load below. All Terms and Conditions may also be found in the widget. Please visit the following Hobby Polish Bloggers members who are bringing this to you! You may enter using Rafflecopter from any of the below blogs but your entry will only count one time. You may, however, tweet about the giveaway (the last option) once a day for the duration of the giveaway.

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Hobby Polish Bloggers
A far from perfect mom
Be Happy and Buy Polish
FashionFooting
I Feel Polished
Imperfectly Painted
Jen Likes Polish (and some other things)
KellieGonzo.com
Love. Varnish, chocolate and more...
Lucy's Stash
Lustrous Lacquer
MandysSecrets
manicure addict
Pamper with Polish
Polarbelle
polish insomniac
Polish Obsession
Polished and Glittered
PolishGalore
PolishNV
pretty tough nails
Refined & Polished
The Dalai Lama's Nails
The Mercurial Magpie
The Sparkling Hoard
TrailerHood Chic

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Red French Tips (Using a French Brush)

Hello again!  I am excited because a couple weeks ago I went with a few friends to go polish shopping at beauty supply shops and I found the perfect cleanup brush.  I saw a french brush in a bin at one of the stores and thought that it might make a good cleanup brush.  It seems that all polish girls are forever in search for the best cleanup brush and best top coat and I seem to collect both.  This brush was only $3, so I figured what is the harm?  Well, I loooooove it!  It is the best cleanup brush I have ever used.  My elf concealor brush melts in the acetone after only a couple weeks of use.  I have used this brush for several weeks and while bristles have gone astray on the whole it is still very well intact.  The edge of the brush is so thin that you can cleanup in the tightest of areas around your nails.  One of my friends Jess, Lost in Polish, pointed out that this is what the manicurists probably use for french manicures.  I didn't even think about that even though the brush has the words, "french brush" etched on the side.  So guess what I decided to try?  Well, I hope you can guess from the title of this post.

I took some pictures of the brush to show you what a perfect cleanup brush looks like.  The other end of the brush has a small dotting too.  I actually use this as part of clean up also.  Since the brush isn't very stiff, I push back my cuticles with the small dotting tool that way I can clean up the excess polish that gathered near my cuticle with ease.

The shape of the brush ends up being perfect for making that smile line for a french mani.

Look at my french tips!  It isn't perfect I know.  But these are the best french tips I have ever created (even my right had looked decent!).  Lol!  And in keeping with the holiday colors.  I thought I would do shimmery red tips! 

In order to create the french tips, I polished the tips with red polish pretty sloppily and then I dipped my french brush in acetone.  I tried to keep a good amount of acetone on the brush, not dripping wet but pretty soaked, then I placed the whole brush where I wanted my smile line and gently pressed down flat against my nail and swiped from side to side brushing away the excess polish to make the french lines.

Wow that was a wordy post!  Ironic since I do not like to read wordy blog posts.  What do you think of my french tips?  I would tell you the name of the red polish, but I got this in a Color Club pack from Ross and threw out the box.  I'm so sorry, if anyone can name it please let me know!  It seems like a metallic Santa red polish.

*Update*  Look at how I updated my mani!!  I love this so much.  I'm not very good at nail art, but I'm proud of myself for this.  Hahaha!  I used my Winstonia Plates for the snowflakes.

OPI 4 In The Morning

I'm not going to pretend I know anything about the new OPI Gwen Stefani collection.  But I did find a bottle from the new collection and I feel so giddy about it.  I was with some friends at a beauty supply shop and we randomly found bottles of 4 In The Morning.  It is a dark grey satin finish (matte) polish with grey shimmer.  The bottles says No Top Coat, but I like it better with top coat.  The formula was a little thin for me and it flooded a few cuticles, but other than that it applied easily.  Swatches below are 3 coats.

This is 4 In The Morning with no top coat.

This is 4 In The Morning with one coat of Glossy Glam.

And here is a delicious macro with top coat.  

I can't wait to see the rest of the collection!  I loooooove Gwen Stefani so I think I will want the whole collection.

My Color Club Giveaway!

Hello all! I'm having a very random giveaway. I came across extra bottles of Color Club The Uptown and wanted to share my findings! This is my first giveaway so bear with me please! If you have no idea what Color Club The Uptown looks like please check out my post here! I think you will all love it!!!!  I will probably add other goodies too it.  Just haven't thought of what yet.  ;)

**Update: I figured out my prize!!!  Of course Color Club The Uptown, Sally Hansen Snow Globe, Darling Diva Polish Invoke the Spirit and an Etude House hand cream (in the cute containter!!) and hand lotion!  I hope you all like it!  :)

A few quick rules.
- US address only please
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- Please read Terms and Conditions below in Rafflecopter.


 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Bliss Polish Lyla

I have a new polish to show you from Bliss Polish's Son's of Anarchy collection.  Okay so I do not know anything about Son's of Anarchy, but I do know that this collection is exciting as hell!  Now Lyla must be a sexy lady, because this polish is just so sexy.  It is a berry jelly polish with some shimmer and GOLD FLAKIES!!  Yummy, I love me some flakies.  I used three coats for the pics below!



Lyla with glossy top coat in artificial light. 

Lyla with glossy top coat in natural light.

Macro of Lyla with glossy top coat.

Lyla with matte top coat.

Lyla with matte top coat macro shot!

 

So I took many photos of Lyla because she is camera shy.  She didn't want everyone to see her sexy beauty without being a tease.  Keep in mind I'm talking about the polish.  :)  So to try to get the flakies to show in their glory I tried different lighting, angles and mattified it!  Hope you enjoyed! 

 

 

The Son's of Anarchy Collection will be available for purchase tomorrow!  Please follow Bliss Polish on Instagram for swatches of the complete collection!  They are ahhhmazing!  Shop link!

Polishes were sent to me for review.

Pipe Dream Polish Tomorrow's a Mystery

Another gorgeous Pipe Dream Polish for you today!!  Seriously I just love all of her polishes!  Today I have on Tomorrow's a Mystery.  This polish is "made up of lime green holo, turquoise, and green circle glitters along with several shades of blue and green smaller glitters packed in a deep azure/turquoise jelly base."   Wowza!  When I put this on it was like luxury on my nails.  It seriously looked like I had jewels on my nails.  It was so super sparkly and gorgeous that I couldn't keep my eyes off my nails! 

Tomorrow's a Mystery with Glossy Top Coat

Tomorrow's a Mystery with Matte Top Coat

Tomorrow's a Mystery macro shot

I cannot stress enought about how super sparkly this polish is!  Seriously you could be naked and no one would notice because your nails will steal the show!  You can purchase Pipe Dream polishes on Etsy.  And follow Pipe Dream on Facebook and Instagram for fun updates and beautiful polishes!

Pipe Dream Polish: The Night's Magic

More Pipe Dream Polish!  Woo hoo!  This one is another beauty and it's called The Night's Magic Glitter. It  is one glitter packed polish.  This is a sheer black jellie based polish with tons and tons of micro holographic flecks and blue and purple sparkly glitters!

I used 3 thickish coats.  The formula was thick, so the only way I could get even coats was to glob it on there but it was easy to manage!

The Night's Magic Glitter with glossy top coat.

The Night's Magic Glitter macro shot.

The Night's Magic Glitter macro shot.  Obsessed with my macro lens.  :)

The Night's Magic Glitter with matte top coat.

I mattified this because I just love to matte all the glitters.  Sometimes it is a huge hit for me.  This time I preferred this manicure with a glossy top coat.  The holo bits seemed to have dulled with the matte top coat. Still beautiful, but glossy is the way to go with this polish!

You can purchase her polishes on Etsy.  And follow Pipe Dream Polish on Facebook and Instagram!  If you like jellie based glitter bombs you will want to buy all her polishes immediately!  

Products were purchased at a discount to provide an honest review.

Pipe Dream Polish: Time in a Tapestry

Good Evening!  It's actually evening and not 2am!  Woo hoo!  Today I have an awesome indie brand I wanted to share.  Pipe Dream Polish!  I have been drooling over her polishes for some time.  I have no idea what took me so long to make a purchase because I literally want everything she makes.

Time in a Tapestry is described as a "gold, copper, and brown glitter with gold flakies in a deep teal green base."  Perfect polish for Fall!  

Time in a Tapestry with glossy top coat

Time in a Tapestry with glossy top coat macro.

Time in a Tapestry with matte top coat.

Time in a Tapestry with matte top coat macro.

Isn't this gorgeous?  I had to matte this because I'm in love with mattifying all my jellies and jellie sandwich in a bottle polishes.  You can purchase her polishes on Etsy.  And follow Pipe Dream Polish on Facebook and Instagram for drool worthy updates!

Products were purchased at a discount to provide an honest review.

Bliss Polish: Behind Closed Doors Collection

I can't believe Yvette is already launching a new collection!!  She is really pumping them out and I love it!  I'm lucky and proud to be one of her Bliss Babes who gets to swatch her amazing polishes!  Her new collection is called Behind Closed Doors and has some fun names to go with the collection.  :)

Let's get to it!  I have a lot of pics.  This collection all has a suede finish.  It seems that once I put top coat on the polishes my camera freaked out and photographed them all a little brighter, some more than other.  I added a note on those photos that aren't color accurate.

First up is Spank!  Oooh sounds naughty already.  This is a really nice nude color with gold and holographic shimmer.  I love a good nude, and this one is gorgeous!

Spank with sude finish.

Spank with glossy top coat.  Photographed brighter than IRL.

Spank macro shot.  I used a different camera for the macro.  This is more color accurate.

Next is Bite!  This is described as a dark russet red this also has micro holographic glitters.

Bite with suede finish.

Bite with glossy top coat.  This photographed a little brighter than it is.
 The top and bottom photos are more color accurate.

Bite macro shot.

Next we have Tease.  Tease is described as a hunter green with micro holographic glitters.

Tease with suede finish.

Tease with glossy top coat.  Photographed brighter than in IRL.

Tease macro.

Next up is Lick.  Lick is a shimmery deep royal blue with micro holographic glitters.  Wow!

Lick with suede finish.

Lick with glossy finish.

Lick macro shot.

Next we have Please.  My favorite of the collection!  I squee when I see the swatches.  This is a shimmery deep plum with micro holographic glitters.  I love this because you can see a mix of purple and blue shimmer in the polish as you wear it!  

Please with suede finish.

Please with glossy top coat.  See the blue and purple sparkles?  Yummy!

Please macro shot.  

Last but not least we have Cuffed.  This is a grey polish with micro holographic glitters.  This is not available for purchase alone.  If you purchase the complete set of the Behind Closed Doors collection this beauty will be included as a bonus!

Cuffed with suede finish.

Cuffed with glossy top coat.  Photographed brighter than IRL.

Cuffed macro shot.  Color accurate.

What do you think of the Behind Closed Doors collection?  I love them all.  There is honestly not one color I didn't like.  They all looked beautiful.  But hands down my favorite is Please and then Lick.  They are absolutely stunning!  If you'd like more information on how to get your hands on this collection please follow Bliss Polish on Instagram.   And check out her store here.  There are still some polishes from previous collections like The Breaking Bad Collection still available!

Color Club: The Uptown

So lately I have not been keeping up with the blog world.  My Feedly app (my blog reader of choice!) had like a 1000 blog posts I didn't read.  So I decided to go through some of them.  There was one polish that I had noticed that seemed to be popping up here and there on my favorite blogs:  Color Club The Uptown.  This totally caught my eye because it is a duochrome flakie!!   I love flakies!  Maybe it's a multichrome, I'm not sure because the Color Club website called it a purple flakie.  It is no purple flakie.  It is a purple jelly based polish with an orangey bronze flakie that shifts to gold and green!  Let me tell you this is packed chock full of flakies and you need to be careful to make even coats.  I put too much of a blob of polish on my pointer and it is really dense with flakies.

Here is The Uptown from Color Club's newest Girls About Town Collection.

Bottle shot!  Can you see why I had to get this??

The Uptown layer over Revlon Royal and topped with HK Girl Top Coat

Macro shot!   Eeek!

The Uptown over Revlon Royal mattified!

Macro of the mattified version!

I'm so in love with flakies!!  And this is no exception.  It is like the Fantasy Fire of Flakies!!  What do you think??  Which did you like better glossy or matte?  I think all flakies have a different dimension when matted.

I actually purchased my bottle at Enospring.com because they sell it a little cheaper than the Color Club website.