happy halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!

I really like Halloween but I don't usually do Halloween nails - I rarely wear orange and I hate spiders and webs so I skip the spooky manis.
But this year I decided to sport an orange manicure and be festive!
No spiders though. I don't go there.

Tada! An abstract orange mani for Hallow's Eve.

The base color for this manicure is China Glaze - Orange You Hot? from the Summer Neons collection. It needs two coats (and sometimes three) to cover fully but it dries quickly.
This is a shade of neon orange that I find I can wear without my skin looking dead and gross.
I wouldn't say I like it, but I don't hate it the way I hate most oranges.

The art on these nails is actually a stamp! It looks like a drizzled technique or a splatter but it is actually Konad m70.
I had a lot of compliments on these nails because people were noticing that my nails were Halloween-appropriate, and everyone thought I had drizzled black polish on top! The stamping design really fools you. I dig it!
I used Konad Special Black polish for stamping.

We didn't get very many trick-or-treaters at my house this year. Guess I'll go eat all the leftover candy...

Pretty & Polished Breast Cancer Awareness Duo

Hey guys!
October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and despite the fact that October is almost over, today I have a post featuring some awesome BCA polishes! (I would have posted them sooner had Canada post not taken ages to get them to me... Ah!)

Pretty & Polished is one of my very favorite indie polish brands! The lovely Chelsea was kind enough to send me these pretty pink polishes for review and I'm very happy to be showing you them today.
The profits from the sales of this Breast Cancer Awareness Duo will be going to Little Red Door in Delaware County. I'm sure we all know someone in our lives who is affected by breast cancer so this is a great way to show your support. Way to go Chelsea!

Pretty & Polished - You Are Beautiful
This is a medium pink shimmering polish that totally glows. The shimmer is intense! And so reflective.

Definitely a color suitable for all types of polish-wearers - I would call this a "mom-friendly" type of color, but at the same time, it is shimmery and interesting enough to be fun for everyone!

And then of course... You add glitter.

Pretty & Polished - BCA
This is a glitter topcoat, packed with two sizes of pink holo hexes and tiny purple holo hexes! Of course I love anything pink and purple and then added the holo sparkle just makes this one great.

BCA also looks great over other colors. Check out Chalkboard Nails for a great swatch of BCA over a dark purple!

Pretty & Polished is sold on Etsy - the BCA duo is currently in stock, full size for $17 and minis for $9. Remember, Chelsea is donating the profits from these sales so you can feel good about buying some polish and donating to charity at the same time!

Don't forget to also check out P&P on Facebook and on their blog.

Hope you liked this post! I also recently bought five other polishes from Chelsea so you'll probably be seeing lots of P&P in the coming weeks!

Products provided for honest review.

four layers of crack

I was really looking forward to the China Glaze Glitter Crackles that came out earlier this year but then they ended up being pretty disappointing.

I didn't buy them at first... But then they went on clearance and I bought all four. (It was a weak moment.)

I tried doing a manicure with one of them and did not like the result, so in frustration I layered the rest on top. And it actually turned out pretty cool!

I like how you can see some cracks still and how it is hard to tell that there are actually 4 layers on there. Haha! It made an interesting effect.

You totally can't see the different polishes in this manicure but I will list them here anyway:
China Glaze - Glam-More (fuchsia)
China Glaze - Jade-D (green)
China Glaze - Gleam Me Up (blue)
China Glaze - Luminous Lavender (purple)

What made the glitter crackles so disappointing is that the glitter is really sparse. You don't get an opaque coat of glitter so it is hard to even notice that it is a crackle and not just a coat of regular glitter.

This was what the manicure started out as. Just the blue crackle over the base color. It was barely visible and so not impressive.

Here's a swatch of the base color on its own because I don't think I've shown it before!

Zoya - Wednesday is a very nice turquoise creme that covers well in 2 coats but holy crap, she likes to stain. It doesn't look like a typical stainy color, but watch out!

Perhaps once the glitter crackles are used a few times and thicken up, they will give more satisfying results.
Or maybe they'd look better over dark colors. I'll give them another chance sometime.

What do you think of this quadruple-crack mani? It's pretty strange, but I dig it.

Pirate Polish - Orb of Thessala

Hey guys! I've got a great indie polish to show off today.

Hooray for indies that don't disappoint!

The lovely Tara from Pirate Polish was kind enough to send me some of her polishes for review.
You may remember I posted her Halloween collection last month!

Today I'll be showing you a polish that was inspired by Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I'm not a Buffy fan so the reference is lost on me, but I'm sure Buffy fans get it! Haha.

Even though I might not get the inspiration, I totally looooooove the polish!

Pirate Polish - Orb of Thessala
Not quite sure why I decided to wear three different colors today, but I did. And I wanted to layer this glitter over all of them. And it turned out lovely!

Orb of Thessala is a clear base with white and silver square glitter, and a ton of holographic shimmer/microglitter. You only need one coat to get a ton of sparkly goodness on your nail.
The glitter is not bumpy and one coat of topcoat is all you need. 

The colors I layered this over are Orly - Fancy Fuchsia, OPI - My Very First Knockwurst, and Color Club - Where's The Soiree?
We'll call this a double accent nail. I was just feelin' the pink/black/nude. 

I layered this polish over a bunch of stuff on some nail wheels and it truly looks great over anything! I love the holo sparkle it adds, and of course square glitter is always fun.

Love it!
Pirate Polish Lacquers are 15mL, big 3 free, and retail for $10.

Check out Tara's blog here, Pirate Polish on Facebook here, and on Etsy here!

Product provided for honest review.

blu jelly?

I few weeks ago I played around with some jelly sandwiches. I wore the same blue jelly on both hands with different glitters sandwiched on each hand.
One turned out really cool, and one just so-so. I'll show them both today!

This is the so-so combo.
You're looking at OPI - Rainbow Connection sandwiched between coats of China Glaze - Ride The Waves.
Some of the colors of the glitter didn't look so cute inside the blue but overall it was a cool look!

Now for the cooler but poorly photographed one... (I really didn't have the right-hand photo magic going on this day, apparently, because these are funny!)

Okay maybe the first picture is not so bad.
This is Lynnderella - Connect The Dots inside China Glaze - Ride The Waves.
I really love how the white glitters turn blue and the shimmer still shows through.

Verdict: Connect The Dots is really cool in jelly sandwiches but Rainbow Connection not so much.

Do you like jelly sandwiches? U jelly?

China Glaze - It's Alive!

Hey guys! Still trying to get back into the hang of posting every day...

Tonight I'mma show you what I believe is the only Halloween polish I own. I'm not big on orange polishes as you probably know, so Halloween isn't a big nail-party for me, but I adore this green glitter from last year.

(I did these swatches ages ago so they have my old watermark on them and I am too lazy to redo it!)

China Glaze - It's Alive
This is from the Halloween 2011 collection which was called Haunting. 
This is not the type of polish you see around a lot - a green glitter in a murky green base. Totally swamp-like and Halloween-appropriate.
Even though it is meant to be dirty looking and spooky, I adore the color and could wear it year-round! Something about green glitter gets to me.

I believe I layered it over an Essence polish for this swatch but it has been a while and I can't remember. I do know that you can wear this on its own with 2-3 coats or you can layer it if you prefer.
If you didn't pick this up last year, I'd totally recommend trying to find it now!

I think I just might break out this baby tomorrow!
Have a lovely evening.

RLN vs NYC

Hey guys! I'm alive!
I totally disappeared on you again there, I was just too busy and also too tired to get myself on my computer since I returned from New York. I pretty much have been sleeping in all my free time to try to catch up on my zzz's!

But never fear, here I am, with a post about my trip, and of course my haul!
(My polish haul actually wasn't even very big!)

quit while you're ahead...

Good morning! This is my last day in the Big Apple. I'm sure I'm probably crying about it right now. I probably never wanna leave.
I wonder how much shopping I'll have done by now... I guess you will soon see!

Today's post is something I thought I wouldn't post because it is so weird but I figured I should always share my hilarious fails just so you don't think I am alllllways perfect... ;)

This manicure started with good intentions! Lime green glittery goodness!

This is one coat of Orly - Here Comes Trouble, a great glitter from the Pin-Up Collection, over 2 coats of China Glaze - I'm With The Lifeguard, the neon green from the Summer Neons collection.

I love both of these polishes and they pair together really well!
I wore them for a day but then I felt like I should add some more glitter.

I said hey, let's add some more Orly glitter! I slapped on a coat of Orly - Spazmatic.
It didn't really do it for me.

Hey, let's add MORE!

...Still not pretty. The added coat of Milani - Fuchsia Jewel FX didn't make me happy.

Now I had no idea where to go.
For some reason I said to myself, "I bet this will look REALLY good if I made it into a jelly sandwich!"
...Wrong.

Oooooh boy. Someone threw up their easter eggs. Yuck!
China Glaze - Oxygen is the white jelly.

The moral of this story, quit while you're ahead, and enjoy that green glitter without adding a bunch of crap.

See you tomorrow with a live post, so long as I don't spend my entire day sleeping/recovering. Yikes!

OPI - Lincoln Park After Dark Matte

Hello all! We are nearing the end of my vacation and my scheduled posts...

Today's post is a bit of a sad one because I'm just showing you a kinda sad swatch on some super short sad nails. Heh.

This is OPI - Lincoln Park After Dark Matte.
I really wanted to get all the OPI Mattes after falling in love with the suedes, but they just aren't the same without that shimmer!
This also took 3 coats to even out fully which was a bummer.
It just didn't give me that nice, smooth look I wanted. I do adore the color though.

Lesson learned, I definitely like shimmery suede better than flat matte.

Some day I'll have to post all the Lincoln Park polishes at once!
Lincoln Park After Dark, Lincoln Park After Dark Matte, Lincoln Park After Dark Suede, Lincoln Part At Midnight...

presenting... my right hand!

Hello all! I hope you are enjoying these short-but-sweet posts I have scheduled for you while I am off on vacation.

Today's post will show off something I don't usually show off. My right hand.

For some reason I only did this manicure on my right hand, but I loved it, so I tried my hardest to get some nice pictures of it to show you lovely people!
But my right hand really doesn't like to pose so it took me a lot of effort but hey, I worked it out.

Tada! My right hand. In all its bad-posing glory.

This manicure started with a polish I adore, Essie - Haute as Hello.
The formula is good but thin, you need 3 coats, but it does dry very fast.

I added a stamp from a Konad plate with Konad Psyche Pink. I am sorry but I do not remember the Konad plate number right now and I have no time to go looking for it. Haha! Maybe someone will save the day and comment it below, in case anyone else is wondering.

I love this color combo. So summery and fun.
I know I'll be wearing Haute As Hello a lot in the summers. And it is a great toe color, too!

Hope my right hand didn't disappoint!

blue-n-purple shimmery dots

Happy Monday! Another scheduled post here for your viewing pleasure while I am away in NYC. 

Ooh, today's mani is not one of my best. And the pictures aren't the best. But hey, I'm showing it anyway!

This was a manicure I wore one day when I was just bored and didn't know what to do.

The pretty blue base is Nicole by OPI - Nothing Kim-pares To Blue.
The dots were done with China Glaze - No Way Jose.
I love the great shimmer in these polishes! But I think I did the dots too fast and kinda muffed it up.

Not my best. But still okay. Right?

I think perhaps today I will be heading to see the Cake Boss... OMG! Exciting! Gotta get me a cannoli. (Or a whole cake.)

oh so blue

Hello all! Here is another scheduled post while I am livin' it up in the big city.

This manicure is oh so blue and oh so sparkly!

For this manicure I just kept adding layers of different OPI polishes, haha!

It started with 2 coats of OPI - What's With The Cattitude?, a light blue creme.
I then added a coat of OPI - Last Friday Night, the iridescent blue glitter seen in the photos.
I stepped it up with a coat of OPI - Gone Gonzo!, a mix of blue and silver glitter.
I think I added another coat of LFN...
And I know I finished with a coat of OPI - Yule Love This Silver, a tiny holo glitter topcoat.

Man, it was a thick manicure! But so sparkly and pretty.

I bet these would be amazing with snowflakes stamped on top! I'll have to keep that in mind for winter.