KBShimmer — Lilac Dreams

Today I have another KBShimmer polish for you guys.

This one is called Lilac Dreams. It is a light purple to pink microglitter / metallic with aqua and silver holographic particles as well as a scattering of black and silver micro glitter.  This is really gorgeous.

This is 2 coats of Lilac Dreams with 1 coat of Seche Vite top coat. This polish compared to the previous one I reviewed from them is 100xs better. This did dry fast but not SO fast that I couldn't get it on the nail and it wasn't thick or hard to work with formula wise. 

And here's a more detailed shot via my cell phone. You can see the micro glitter and particles better.

KBS polishes can be purchased from their Etsy store. They're currently waiting on a shipment of base but will be restocking and have 2 new collections in the works. :)

Until next time~ :)

Elixir Lacquers — Bad Kitty

I seem to have found several polishes that I swatched that I NEVER edited or posted here so expect to see those popping up over the next week.

A while back I showed you guys Lynderella Nosegay layered over Elixir Lacquer Bad Kitty LE. Today I'm finally showing you Bad Kitty! Hehe. 

Better late than never, eh?

Bad Kitty LE is a limited edition polish by fellow blogger Nicole of Nail Polish Wars. This is a light purple to teal duochrome. It's a beautiful and kind of insane polish to see first hand.

It's so shiny!

It is on the sheer side, I think this was 3-4 coats and I still had VNL which is why I layered Nosegay over it but it's seriously gorgeous on it's own.  You can layer this polish on tons of different bases to create new and unique looks.  And it is a bit streaky but if you apply this properly the brush strokes aren't bad.

Bad Kitty is unfortunately limited edition, but I think Nicole may be releasing another small set soon. If you're lucky, you can pick this up for $12 USD over on  the Elixir Lacquers website.

Until next time~ :)

KBShimmer — Robin

 Hello lovelies!

Today I have a polish from the indie brand KBShimmer. KBShimmer also makes artisan soaps, bath bombs, sugar scrubs, lip scrubs, butters and lotions, etc. I haven't tried any of their body stuff before but one day I do plan on ordering some to try!

I am sharing one of the three polishes I purchased from them.  

Robin is a light blue (almost periwinkle) shimmer / metallic based polish with fuchsia, purple, green, silver, and teal holographic glitters. Speckled to resemble a Robin's egg.

This was not a fun polish to photograph! I could not for anything get this to be color accurate. :/

To be completely honest, I wasn't that happy with this polish. The finish wasn't what I was expecting and the formula was not good. It was really thick / gloopy and dried SO SO fast I couldn't even spread it out completely before it started drying. Now I love a quick-dry polish but that was TOO fast. Maybe if I tried using a thinner, it would have been better but meh. I don't think I care for the frosty/shimmer finish covering the pieces of glitter either. If it were a jelly or more sheer base I probably would have liked it more.

It's still a pretty polish, but like I said, I was just disappointed with it. Someone else may love it to bits! Who knows.

KBShimmer's polishes sell for $7.50 in their Etsy store, which the currently don't have any up. Not sure when they're restocking. They have some great colors and I'm still excited to try the other two polishes I bought from them.

Until next time, lovelies~

Nail mail & haul post!

I know I said in my last haul post that I wouldn't have another big haul post for a while, well I got my second nail mail from the lovely Vanessa of Confessions of a Polishaholic and I just had to share!

 She sent me a ton of Bettina polishes, which are a brand native to Puerto Rico. They are fantastic!

 

First up is the Flori collection.

L-R: Magnolia, Orchidea, Ortensia

L-R: Tulipani, Giacinto, Gladiola

Jeans Collection

L-R: Sand Blast, Vintage, Indigo

L-R: Gems Amethyst, Resort Flip Flops, Resort Pink Bikini

L-R: Bettina Matte, Glamour Allure, Festive, Art Deco Aqua

L-R: Hard Candy Beetle & Matte-ly In Love

L-R: Sally Hansen Pacific Blue, Rockstar Pink, Essie Barefoot in Blue

She so sweetly sent me Barefoot in Blue since she ended up with 2 when they did the Toms giveaway. I completely forgot to enter in to win!

L-R: OPI DS Temptation, OPI Rainbow Connection

She also sent me a bunch of delicious candies which I have been slowly devouring this past weekend. Lol.

When I was shopping for nail mail to send to Vanessa, I picked up these two for myself. Lol. I couldn't resist!

L-R: Spoiled Use Protection, Spoiled Shuffle the Deck

Then I cheated and bought some indie polishes from 2 lovely indie polish makers. >.>

KBShimmer is an indie polish makers who also specializes in artisan soaps, 

bath bombs, sugar scrubs, and more. Check them out!

L-R: Newsprint, Robin, Lilac Dreams

  

 Whimsical Ideas by Pam is another indie polish maker. You can order from her through her Facebook page and you can also check her page to see what polishes she's currently offering.

L-R: Hatched, Seuss, Kismet's Pajamas

And that is all for now!  

I apologize for not posting much this week but I have been SOO busy with RL and work and I've just been worn out! I do have some things that I need to edit and get posted so hopefully expect a couple of posts to come this week. I'm not sure I'll be posting 3 times a week like I was before but definitely expect to have more than one update (hopefully) a week. I definitely have enough polish to keep me busy for a while. Heheh.

Until next time~ :)

Orly — Androgynie

I have an oldie for you guys today. I've had this polish for a while because I was really excited about it when it first came out but wasn't able to get my hands on it until months later. Then I didn't get around to swatching it until well...months later. Lol.

Orly Androgynie is a blackened jelly base packed with golden micro and larger multi-colored hex glitter.

I swatched this a while back so I honestly don't remember much about application. I'm pretty sure this is 2 coats. OTL. Pretty sure getting the larger glitter on the nail wasn't so easy. They seem to just sink to the bottom and shaking doesn't really do much good in this instance.

I did end up liking this polish despite it not quite living up to my expectations (along with a good majority of people that I've come across).

Androgynie was a part of the 2011 Holiday Soiree collection so I'm not sure if you can still find this in stores but a lot of etailers have it in stock like Transdesign and Head2Toe Beauty.

Until next time~ :)

Scherer Chameleon — Blue Sky

I have a little something different today, a little gem I found at my local RiteAid. I never really venture to RiteAid anymore since there isn't one close to my house but this one is right around the corner from work. While scoping the place out for some pretties to send to Vanessa of Confessions of a Polishaholic, I came across these little Chameleon polishes by Scherer.

Only 2 of these little duo/multichrome polishes stood out to me and today I have the first to show you.

Below is Blue Sky which is a blurple to teal duochrome. I tried really hard to capture the RL look of this on camera but let me say that this was even more awesome in person. I couldn't stop staring at my nails. In the bottle this looks much more multichrome with blue to a gold flash with purple and teal in between but on the nail you really just get that blurple to teal change.

Also, these are my first nail pictures with my new lightbox I made (still used with natural light / direct sunlight through my window)! And please forgive how rough this looks on my nails. I had a bit of a battle with some glitter that left my nails a bit peely and this frosty metallic just shows it all! (And also ignore the ding I made on my middle finger! Lol.)

This is 2 thin coats of Blue Sky with a top coat of Seche Vite. I probably could have done another coat of polish but at 2 it was opaque enough. This does dry a bit frosty/metallic but the brush strokes are not very visible on the nail at all. And it's really not that frosty at all.

Overall I loved this polish. Coverage is awesome in 2 coats and dry time is really fast! I'm actually really happy with this find. :)

I picked these up at RiteAid for $1.99 or so. You could probably catch them on sale or even clearance if you're lucky.

Until next time~ :)

Rainbow Gothic Lolita Fish!

Today I have just a quick post. I never did get around to swatching the Electropop collection that China Glaze put out, but today I am showing you one of those polishes along with another Nailventurous polish I have!

I did this mani to last only 2 days since I had something special planned for the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival and I didn't want to fight with glitter (since that's all I've been buying recently!).

So here we have 2 coats of China Glaze Gothic Lolita with an accent nail of 2 coats of Nailventurous Rainbow Fish. (I need to file my nails down so bad!!)

First lightbox pictures!

I love how Rainbow Fish looks like it's floating on top of the polish. It creates a really cool 3D effect all on it's own!

Formula on GL was a little bleh to work with but I did this really fast so it's probably just that I was doing my nails quick and with horrible lighting so I didn't see how streaky I was putting this on. 2 coats leveled everything out though.

I'm still trying to perfect my lightbox technique. I really need to get a better lamp so that I can light the box from the top instead of the side so it creates more even lighting and less shadows.

Anyway, until next time~ :)

Festival of Strawberries~

Super quick post as I run out the door to head to the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival.

To celebrate I did strawberries on my nails. At first I was going to watermarble more than just my pinkies. (lol) But I was out of time and did this really fast last night before crashing.

I used The Hungry Asian Strawberry of course as the base for my strawberries. I used Sinful Colors white striper color to lay the base for the leaves and added China Glaze Gaga for Green on top.

The watermarble on my pinky is China Glaze White on White, Holly Day, Gaga for Green, and Winter Berry. I tried to do the "swirl" pattern instead of the petals and I liked how this came out so I just went with it. :)

On to the pictures!

Until next time my lovelies~ :)

Haul post!

Happy Friday the 13th!! Bwhaha. :P

Yet another haul for you guys. It'll probably be the last big one for a while. I have had to pull back the reigns on my spending because I have bought over 30 polishes in the last few weeks and my wallet is crying right now. Lol.

First up is Nailventurous polishes. I managed to snag these 4 that I wanted in record time before everything sold out.

L-R: Flying Blue Jay, Magpie Feathers, Robin Laid An Egg, Rainbow Fish

Next is Nostalgic Lacquer. I kept missing the restock so Erin kindly did an order for me so I got these 4. I plan on ordering some others from her soon as well. :)

L-R: Rayanne, Jordan, Underground, Riot

Lacquistry went on sale as well and I landed these 5. I had to stop myself.

L-R: Winter No. 1, Tepes, Paean of the Bells, Autumn Flurries, Frosty Marrow

These 3 little lovelies from Pretty & Polished.

L-R: Midnight Rider, Bubble Tear, Jawbreaker

Nerd Lacquers!! I managed to snag the one I wanted most which I shared with you guys already. I still have several that I want from her. Oh it's so hard to settle with a few!

L-R: All of Time and Space, Home of the Untempered Schism, I Think You Call Me...Sexy, Don't Blink

Next are a few things I caught on sale at Rite Aid.

L-R: Scherer Calypso, Scherer Blue Sky, Petites Zodiac

And that's that! Unfortunately most of the indie shops are closed right now but I know at least a few of them are due for restocking soon. You just have to keep checkin' 'em out! :)

Until next time, my dears~ :)

Nailventurous — Voodoo Doll

Hello lovelies!

I have my first Nailventurous polish to show you guys today! :D

I lucked out when Ninja Polish re-stocked a few weekends ago. I managed to snag Voodoo Doll and Floam by Nailventurous.

Being the lazy bum I am, I just layered this over my previous posts's polish. I actually think this makes a really pretty combination! This is 2 coats of Nailventuous Voodoo Doll over Pretty & Polished Galactus.

I had a hell of a time trying to take pictures of this one so I apologize for my crappy pics.

Voodoo Doll is a semi-sheer black jelly base packed with medium, small, and fine white, medium and fine black, and ultrafine silver glitter. You can probably wear this on its own in 2-3 coats but I always prefer to layer polishes like this.

You can purchase Nailventurous polishes from Amy's Etsy shop when she restocks or from Ninja Polish when they restock. They retail for about $9 USD each for a full sized bottle.

Until next time~ :)

Pretty & Polished — Galactus

Today's post is another Pretty & Polished polish.

Galactus is a gorgeous holographic purple / blurple polish. It's really more purple looking in real life but this definitely has a strong lean towards cobalt blue. It's vibrant and bright and ah-ma-zing~

This is the most color accurate.

I did this mani with only lamplight so I didn't realize how horrible of a job I did. Lol. 2 coats to full opacity and I could have used 3 with how horrible of a paint job I did but this is definitely a 2 coater if you're careful. I had no issues with application, everything was perfect. :)

You do have to shake the crap out of the polish to get the holo to mix around evenly in the polish but other than that, I would totally recommend this color to anyone who has a love for purples / blurples. Hehe.

Pretty & Polished sells for $4.50 for minis (7ml) at her Etsy shop. Full sized bottles are also sold and I think those are $8 each.

Until next time~ :)

Easter Mani Watermarble!

Happy Easter Sunday!

Today I have a skittles mani with a couple watermarble accent nails.

I used the Bettina polishes that the lovely Vanessa of Confessions of a Polishaholic sent me a few weeks back. :DD

Right hand — best marble on this hand!

Left hand — first marble on this hand. Not so great.

These two are before I added the glitter coat from Lacquistry.

Polishes used were:

China Glaze White on White (base for marble)

Bettina Cotton Candy

Bettina Birds

Bettina Ocean

Bettina Grape

Bettina Peppermint

Lacquistry Frosty Marrow

I marbled my left hand first and didn't have the best time of it. I tried to dip 2 fingers at a time but because I have stupid fingers and the polish was too dry (and my cup probably wasn't big enough) it didn't exactly turn out too successful. This did however come out pretty well considering I have NEVER done a watermarble before and didn't even practice before sitting down to do this. What you see is my very first attempt. Lol.

After I was done, I wanted to do something to add a little oomph to it, so I added Lacquistry Frosty Marrow to my nails. It's an iridescent white glitter top coat. I almost added it to all my marbled nails too but didn't really like it on them so that's why only my middle left nail has it on. XD

I did mess up my left hand though and only half of my index finger got marbled at first, but I did a coat of China Glaze White on White on top of the half nail and redid it.

Half marbled index finger. Lol.

Before the mess began. :D

It was a very fun trial and I plan on trying my hand at this more. Not sure I could handle doing one nail at a time though so I need to figure out how to do more than one at a time without that first time fail happening again. Hehe.

Until next time, my lovelies~ :)

Get To Know Me Tag!

The lovely Michaela from Nail Polish Anon tagged me so here we go!

The Rules:

1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves on their blog.
2. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you and write 11 questions for the people you have tagged to answer. 
3. Choose 11 people and link them to your tag and let them know. 
4. No tag backs.

Questions:

 
1. Cat or dog?

Dog. I love both but I really love dogs. I love to play and run and cuddle with a big dog. Unfortunately I haven't actually had a dog in several years and I really miss having one. I do have a crazy cat though, who I do adore and play with and mess with all the time. Hehe.

2. Where do you live specifically (ie. town, village etc) and what is it like there?

I live outside the city. We don't really have names like village or hamlet here. It takes about 10 minutes to get to the main part of this side of the city (there's east and west). I live on the east side of the city in a rural/suburban area. The area is really quiet and the houses aren't on top of each other. It's really quite nice here. We're far enough from the main city to see the stars out at night but not far enough to see all the stars. If that makes sense.
 

3. Setting aside human beings, who/what do you love most in the world. I'm talking an object, a pet, or an activity here.

My parrot, Sunny. He's been in my life for 15 years now and he's very much a part of my heart. I don't know what I would do without him. He's like a child to me and I love him very much.

 

 

4. What is the best part of blogging to you?

I love the interaction with other bloggers. Even before when I blogged on livejournal about my personal life, I always just loved meeting new people and learning about others and talking with them. I wish I was better at it though because I am shy and I tend to try too hard I think at times and just feel weird trying to push myself onto others. IDK. Lol. XD
 

5. What is at the top of your bucket list?

I don't really know. There are so many things I want to do, especially travel. So could that be considered my top thing? I want to visit exotic countries, climb mountains, experience cultures, see sakura blossom in spring, walk along a pebbled beach, see whales in the ocean, and zebra on the plains.
 

6. Favourite book/s?
By far I am a huge Harry Potter nerd. They are my favourite series of all time. But I also really like The Hunger Games, A Song of Ice and Fire, Women of the Otherworld, The Southern Vampire Mysteries, etc. I tend to be drawn more towards fantasy, sci-fi, supernatural type books. Hehe.
 

7. Favourite animal?
Other than your normal domesticated animals, I love horses, wolves, and tigers. They're all such beautiful, graceful, and intelligent animals.
 

8. Favourite nail polish?
HARDEST QUESTION EVER. 

I really have to say that OPI Catch Me In Your Net is my favourite nail polish though I don't actually own that polish, I do own a dupe of it by Zoya. I always tend to go back to that polish when I'm looking for something to wear. Lol.

If you're talking about brand, I really love China Glaze polishes. I've only had maybe 1-2 polishes that didn't have good formula, but otherwise have had great experience with their polishes.

9. What beauty product couldn't you live without?
My foundation. I know it seems kind of crazy but I generally don't leave the house without foundation on. I have really weird skin pigmentation (no dermatologist or esthetician has ever told me I had anything wrong) and I really am just super self-conscious about it.
 

10. Sweet or savoury?
Swavoury. I am a sucker for chocolate, especially dark chocolate. Rich, creamy, smooth, dark chocolate. Mmmmm.
 

11. How do you feel about indie polishes?

I looooooooooooooooooooove indie polishes. I've actually been more excited about all the indie polishes than I have all the "big" brand polishes that have been coming out. Indie polish makers just tend to do so much more unique things with their lines than big companies.

That was fun! :D

I'm not tagging anyone right now, but if you want to do this go right ahead! OTL. /fail
 

1. What's your favourite television program?
2.  Who is your all time fashion icon?
3.  Do you prefer high end or drugstore beauty products?
4.  How long do you normally wear your manicure?
5.  Do you swatch one at a time or as many as possible?
6.  What's your favourite candy?
7.  Do you have a pet? If yes, pictures please!
8.  Where do you wish to be in 10 years?
9.  What is your all time favourite place to visit?
10.  Where do you keep your polish stash?
11.  What do your friends/family say about your polish obsession? Hehe.