Nail Of The Day: Spring Flowers

Hey everyone! Happy Easter to all those who celebrate. I am spending my day with my husband and daughter enjoying the beautiful spring weather!

I have been doing a little "market research" with nail strips and used the Sally Hansen Salon Effect nail strips for my first test run.

Please Note: All products in this post were purchased by me for my own personal use.

 

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Girl Flowers & China Glaze Passion For Petals

The strips are cute and I really like using them for accent nails. Easy enough to apply, and I got a lot of wear time out of them before I got bored & removed my mani. They lasted a good 3 days before I noticed any tip wear.

 

Have you used nail strips? I think they would be great for nail art!

 

Sally Hansen Salon Effects are available at numerous locations. They retail between $7-$10 per package.

 

Products shown were purchased by me for my own personal use. All opinions are my own.

Revlon Chroma Chameleon Amethyst

Hello lovelies! Short and sweet post today, no need for a lot of chatter when there's a pretty duo chrome to swoon over!

 

Revlon recently released a Limited Edition line of Duo Chrome polishes called Chroma Chameleon; great name, not so great (as in waaaay over done) collection. Every single polish has been done before, and within the last year even. Most are dupes of the China Glaze New Bohemian Luster Chromes, and of course there's even a Peridot version. Amethyst is the only one that I haven't seen a bajillion replicas, so naturally that is the one I grabbed! Pretty sure it's a dupe of Zoya Ki, however.

 

Please Note: All products in this post were purchased by me for my own personal use.

 

 

 

Revlon Chroma Chameleon - Amethyst

 

Amethyst is a smokey purple/steel grey/green multi chrome. The color shift is really strong, but only in daylight. The formula was good, a lot more manageable than the Sally Hansen Lustre Shines, comparable to the China Glaze ones. A bit thin on the first coat, solid in 2 if you are careful. I ended up using 3 because I had a few patchy spots. Quick dry time, no application issues.

 

 

Shade

 

After all the duo chrome collections from last year, I am kinda burnt out, especially since there hasn't been anything new or exciting in any of them. For me, this is just a rehash and a big ol' let down. Out of eight polishes, this is the only one I liked, and for a hoarder like me, that usually doesn't happen.

 

These are limited edition, so if you missed out on any of other duo chrome collections, and you want to grab some, get them while you can. They retail for about $9 a piece and are available in many drugstore locations.

 

Products shown were purchased by me for my own personal use. All opinions are my own.

Last Chance!

Hey guys & gals! Today is your last chance to enter my super awesome Nail Art Starter Kit give away! Name's will be drawn tomorrow, so be sure to get those entries in! Click here to enter and be sure to check back to see if you won!

XO,
B.

Elevation Polish Marmolada

Hello all! Happy frickin Friday! This week has just flown by! I've got so many things going on right now, that I am losing track of time. Can't believe I've managed to get a blog post up almost every day. That's like a record or something! Today, I have circle glitter!!!! YASS! My obsession with circle glitter is going strong, and it ain't showin any signs of stopping, so be prepared for an onslaught in the posts to come!

 

Please Note: All products in this post were purchased by me for my own personal use.

 

 

Elevation Polish - Marmolada over Julep - Julianne

 

Marmolada is a smokey blue grey jelly base with medium and large silver and aqua circle glitters and small purple hex glitters. This is true love, right here, people. There is no amount of words for how awesome this polish is. The color is prefect, the glitter mix is perfect, and it doesn't give me lobster hands! Most blue/grey polishes do, but the base color is just bright enough to look fantastic. I did layer this over Julep Julianne, which is nearly identical, but a tiny bit softer. I probably didn't need to layer, and could have gotten full opacity with Marmolada on it's own, but wanted to make sure I got total coverage. Formula is a good, even consistency, and flowed nicely. No issues with dragging or clumping from the glitter. The larger pieces did give me some issue and I had to fish for them, but nothing super irritating. Good dry time and smooth with one coat of Julep Freedom top coat (my current fav for glitters).

I am growing quite fond of this brand and it's gorgeous glitters (circles!!!). I will be back for more!


Elevation Polish is available online. Polish is restocked on the 7th & 22nd of each month. Prices range from $6 to $10.
Products shown were purchased by me for my own personal use. All opinions are my own.

Bondi New York Tavern On The

Hey gals & guys! Today I have a polish from a new boutique brand based out of NYC to share!

 

Bondi New York is a 5-free non toxic nail polish launching with 20 versatile and modern shades. Profits from each sale are donated to charitable organizations helping those in need. Non toxic & charitable, gotta love that!

 

Please Note: Products were provided to me by Bondi New York for my honest review.

 

 

Bondi New York - Tavern On The

 

Tavern On The is a deep, almost dusty, green leaning teal cream. You all know how much I love teal, so it should be no surprise that this is the color I chose to review. This particular color is a great shade, and very wearable for me, but in all honesty, as much as I love teal, all the other colors Bondi released are really nice and I had a hard time choosing! Formula was stellar! For a new brand to have such a fantastic formula base shows real attention to quality. It applied like butter, smooth and perfectly flowy. Nearly a one coater, and if I would have paid a bit more attention to my application, it would have been! 2 easy coats, very quick dry time, and a nice glossy finish! No top coat for this lovely!

My one complaint, and it is a nit-picky one, is the bottle cap. The bottles are nice modern square bottles, and I love the look. However, the cap is also square, and a bit clunky to handle which can make for a troublesome application. If it were removable, like the butter London caps, it would be perfect. Like I said, nit-picky.

 

I am rather impressed and very pleased with the product Bondi has released. Nice color selection, fantastic formula, and to top it off, 5-free and a company with a conscience. All  around win! There are other boutique brands in the $15-$20 price range (Bondi NY runs $15) that offer an inferior product and isn't 5-free.

 

Bondi New York is available online. Bottles are $15 a piece, international shipping available.

Products shown were provided by Bondi NY for my honest review. All opinions are my own. For more information please read my disclaimer.

New 2013 Hard Candy Polish (Pic Heavey)

Hello everyone, happy Wednesday! Today's post is full of sparkly, shiny goodness! Hard Candy has recently reinvented themselves and released a whole slew of new products, including 45 new nail polish colors. While the old vintage Hard Candy bottles with the cool little heart shaped ring are gone, the essence of the bright and fun polish is still there. I stumbled across a display at my local Wal-Mart and promptly snagged a few bottles!

Please Note: All products in this post were purchased by me for my own personal use.

 

Hard Candy - Piece of Papaya (Itzy Glitzy)

 

Piece of Papaya, from the Itzy Glitzy finish, is a bright fuchsia pink and golden glass fleck polish. It is almost a foil, but the particles are smaller than a traditional foil. It is SO shiny and I love it. I am not a pink person, but throw in a golden shimmer, and I am done. Perfect for summer, or any time you want something shiny and sparkly! Formula was spot on. Smooth and flowy, perfect consistency. 2 coats, great dry time. Seriously great.

 

 

 

Hard Candy - Bitty Blue (Itzy Gltizy)

 

Bitty Blue, another one from the Itzy Glitzy finish, is more of what a glass fleck typically looks like. Bright, shiny blue. OMG, hello gorgeous! Same formula as before, and I was just as amazed!

 

 

Hard Candy - Peach Pop (Candy Sprinkles)

 

Peach Pop, from the Candy Sprinkles finish, is a milky peach base with tiny red, pink and silver glitter pieces. The look is identical to the Nails Inc Sprinkles collection from last year, but with quite a few more color options (as well as some dupes). Perfect color, and I do like it a lot more than the Nails Inc ones. Formula was, again, great. Smooth, 2 coats, dried quickly. No issues with all that glitter either.

 

 

Hard Candy - Crush On Lava (Crushed Chrome)

 

Crush on Lava, from the Crushed Chrome finish, is a violet and copper foil. This has the bigger foil pieces, as opposed to the Itzy Glitzy polishes, and is simply brilliant. Once again, great formula. Just as good as the previous ones.

 

 

If you are wondering whether or not Crushed On Lava is a re-promote of the beloved Beetle, it almost is. The overall look is nearly identical, but the base color of the polish is just slightly different.

 

Beetle has a bit of green in the base that gives a duo chrome look, unfortunately Crush On Lava is missing it. The formula is way better in the new version. Beetle is a bit thin, and requires more coats and takes longer to dry. So, that makes up for the color change, at least for me. I do think it is pretty great of Hard Candy to give us one of the best colors they have ever made, in the new line, even if it slightly off.

 

 

I am completely blown away with the polishes I picked up. Great formula, great colors, great price. $4 a bottle, is pretty dang awesome. A lot of the colors are very similar to what other brands have been putting out lately, so nothing is terribly unique, but it is a good thing to have options. Dupes happen, and I'm not complaining!

 

Hard Candy nail polish is sold exclusively at Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart.com. Bottles are $4 a piece. Products shown were purchased by me for my personal use. All opinions are my own.

GR, FTC & TLC!

Hey all! Hope you guys are having a great morning/afternoon/evening or what ever time it is where you are! Today's post is a boring one, no polish picture spam to drool over. Not fun, I know. But there are some important bloggy things going around right now and I wanted to cover all my bases.

First things first, Google Friends Connect* Google Reader is going away July 1st, so all you that use that as your blog reader will no longer be able to use it. Lame, right? Well, there are plenty of ways for you guys to keep up with me (and all your favorite blogs) after the 1st. I have added a few little blog buttons on my sidebar linking all the different social media outlets I currently use and where you can find me and my blog! I am most active on twitter, but you can use Blog Lovin' and Hello Cotton to read all the posts. I will soon be adding a Facebook page and a Google + page to the list as well.

Now for some serious business of sorts. The FTC (federal trade commission) has decided to impose a few new rules to product blogs. Many beauty blogs offer review of products, mine included. More prominent blogs works with companies and can be supplied with sample products to review. Since I am still a newbie, I have always paid for the polish I have shared, here, on my blog. But when I do a sponsored review, there will be several obvious indicators that the products I will review were given to me by said company. I will always give an honest straight forward review, and will always offer full transparency when doing so. From now on, I will be adding a little blurb at the beginning of each post whether or not the products I am reviewing are provided to me or purchased on my own.

Alright! Congrats if you made it all the way through! I promise to have polish goodness tomorrow. Maybe a few swatches of the new Hard Candy polish?

XO,

B.

Edit: *Apparently GFC is NOT going away, it is Google Reader that is being discontinued on July 1st. I mistakenly thought they were linked. Oops!

Color Club Wild Cactus & a St. Paddy's mani!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I have to admit, I love St. Paddy's Day and when I was a single gal, I would celebrate with my friends and drink several Irish Car Bombs (half a pint of Guiness, with an Irish wiskey & Bailey's floater). Today, instead, I have a wonderful green polish from the Color Club Fiesta collection, to celebrate with!

 

 

 

Color Club - Wild Cactus

 

Wild Cactus is a rich saturated emerald green cream. Perfect for St. Paddy's Day and Pantone's color of the year. I love, love, love it! It is such a vivid green! Sigh. Formula was good, not stellar, but easy to work with. I had a tiny bit of drag on the second coat, but it leveled out okay as it dried. 2 coats, good dry time. It stains really bad, though, one of the worst I have seen.

 

And since this is a special post, I did a fun little mani! Green and gold, glitter and holo, can it be any better?!?

 

Used:

 

Color Club - Wild Cactus

Maybelline Color Show Sequins - Gold's Night Out

Takko Lacquer - Maneki Neko

 

 

 

Look at all that holo sparkly goodness! Dies. Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Nail of the Day: Spring Color Blocking

Good morning all! It looks like Spring has finally made it's way to Texas, well Austin at least. I love spring time even though my allergies don't. Right now everything is perfect; gorgeous weather, birds singing and little green things are popping up all over the place! Also, all the pastel colors are really inspiring, and I came up with this fun color blocking mani. I love it so much, and wore it for almost 3 days! 

 

 

Used:

 

Maybelline Color Show - Green With Envy

Julep - Adrianna

China Glaze - Tart-y For The Party

 

Striping Tape

 

Overall, it is an easy look to achieve, it just requires a bit of patience. I am really loving the striping tape. It is a lot easier to make nice clean lines, as opposed to regular scotch tape.

 

 

Don't forget to check out my give away - here - and you could win striping tape to create a similar look!

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Black & Blue

Hey all! Here's my 101st post! I'm still really excited to have made it to that first big milestone. Don't forget to check out the give away going on for my 100th post special ; )

 

Today, I have another one of the new reformulated Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polishes that have recently been released. This one is a duo chrome!

 

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure - Black & Blue

 

Black & Blue is a blue/purple duo chrome in a blackened base. It is a beautiful polish, but the duo chrome color shift is really weak. So weak, I couldn't even pick it up with my camera. You get a nice purple flash in very low lighting, but that's about it. The purple glow around the edges is pretty much all you see otherwise. Formula was okay, nothing fantastic, though. 3 coats, as it applies a bit sheer. I also used a top coat because it dried rather dull. Average dry time, as well.

 

I feel a bit underwhelmed by it, overall. Sally Hansen can do a killer duo chrome when they want to, and I was expecting a little more from this color. But not everything can be amazing!

What do you all think? Is it worth it despite the disappointing color shift?

100th Post, Nail Art & a Give Away!

Hello my lacquered lovelies! This happens to be my 100th post! I am so very excited to reach this milestone, and rather proud of myself! As many of you know, blogging is very time consuming, and can be challenging to create interesting and captivating content. This is something I really enjoy doing, and I love being part of such an awesome community of wonderful people who share the same obsession adoration for nail polish and beauty products as I do.

For my 100th post, I wanted to do a little something special. If you have been reading, recently, you may have noticed more nail art popping up. I hope to continue doing more designs and sharing them here. I did three different designs with the China Glaze Avant Garden polishes I recently swatched, and wanted to give you all a chance to do a little nail art of your own! First, here is what I came up with.

 

Used:

 

China Glaze - Mimosa's Before Mani's

China Glaze - Tart-y For The Party

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Black Out

 

Dotting Tool

Striping Tape

Small Liner Brush

 

 

Used:

 

China Glaze - Passion For Petals

China Glaze - Sunday Funday

China Glaze - Tart-y For The Party

 

Dotting Tool

 

 

Used:

 

China Glaze - Budding Romance

China Glaze - Mimosa's Before Mani's

 

Dotting Tool

Wingtip Stickers (found here)

Now for the fun part! I have put together a little Nail Art starter kit for one lucky person! The kit includes:

Rules for the Give Away:

1. U.S. residences only, please! At this time, I cannot afford shipping internationally. Sorry!
2. Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below.
3. Only one winner, this time. The next giveaway, I promise to have more offerings!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck!

China Glaze Avant Garden

Hey all! I have a few polishes from the wonderful China Glaze Avant Garden collection to share today! When I first saw promo pics for the collection, I can honestly say, I wasn't really captivated by it, but the more swatches I saw, from other bloggers, the more it drew me in. I ended up getting a lot of the colors (except for a couple of the pastels) and really love them!

 

 

 

China Glaze - Budding Romance

 

Budding Romance is a murky mossy green jelly. It is such an interesting color! At first I wasn't sure about it, but after seeing a few swatches, I knew I had to have it. It is definitely not for everyone, but if you like unusual colors, be sure to grab it! Since it is a jelly, a very gentle and patient application is needed. 3 careful coats achieved full coverage, but I did have to redo a few nails, because I didn't wait long enough between coats and either smudged them or got bubbles. I cannot wait to find a glitter for a jelly sandwich with this!



 

 

 

China Glaze - Mimosa's Before Mani's

 

Mimosa's Before Mani's (please excuse the horrid grammatical error) is a fantastic bright coral with a subtle orange shimmer. Have I said, how obsessed with coral I am this season? I need MOAR! This is particularly  great shade, and shimmer, although barely noticeable, adds a nice little depth. The formula was a bit streaky on the first coat, but the second smoothed everything out. I used 2 thicker coats, you may need 3, depending on how you apply the polish. Dry time was about average.

 

 

China Glaze - Passion For Petals

 

Passion For Petals is a bright raspberry pink cream. I usually don't go for colors like this, but it is so vivid and fun, that I had to get it and I'm so glad I did, it's fabulous! The formula is just as great. It flowed perfectly, and seemed to paint itself! 2 coats, no dragging, streaking, or any other issues. And it dries super shiny! It does stain cuticles so be careful.

 

 

China Glaze - Tart-y For The Party

 

Tart-y For The Party is a bright pastel lilac purple. I love that it is a bright pastel, as opposed to a chalky one. Great color, but a bit more red than my picture. I love it so much, and I will for sure be using it quite often! Formula was okay, I had some trouble getting an even coat, but it eventually leveled out.

 

 

 

China Glaze - Sunday Funday

Sunday Funday is a very bright sky blue cream. This makes my heart swoon! This is seriously the color of a cloudless Texas sky during spring and summer. I love it so hard! Formula was almost identical to Tart-y For The Party. And it stains like a mother, so be sure to wear undies!

 

 

This is such a great collection, and China Glaze really outdid themselves with it. I will most certainly be grabbing Fancy Pants and Keep Calm, Paint On the next time my Sally's has them in stock.

 

What are your favorite colors for spring? Pastels or Brights?

P.S. - Be sure to check back Sunday for my 100th post & a surprise!!!

Julep March Box - Bombshell

Hey guys and gals! How's March treating all of you? It was been nonstop windy here, in Austin. Some days, I kinda feel like Dorothy and I'm gonna get blown away! Perfect weather to fly a kite, though!

 

Today, I have the Julep Maven box for March. This month was all about playful pastel colors, inspired by spring. I opted for the Bombshell box this month, because my regular box - BoHo Glam - wasn't really doing it for me. Honestly, the last few box picks haven't really wowed me over, except for the beauty extras. But, that is one of the really cool things about Julep, you can pick a different box if you want!

 

 

Julep March Box - Bombshell (Rock Star Hand Creme, Minnie, Adrianna, Strawberry Mint Lip Balm)

 

 

Julep - Adrianna

 

Adrianna is a soft, pastel pistachio green cream. Right now, I am in love with all things pastel green. Going in, I knew I would love the color, and hate the formula. Pastels are notoriously problematic, and this one is no different; streaky, hard to level, thick and gluey formula. A very careful, and patient application is needed for this polish. 3 painstaking coats and I managed a decent finish. Even with a top coat, it still didn't want to completely level. A bit of thinner might remedy some of the issues, though. Pretty color, however, and I can usually forgive a crappy formula if I dig the color.

 

 

Julep - Minnie

 

Minnie is a bright cotton candy pink with a hidden pink shimmer. It is sooooo much brighter in person! I really like it, even though I usually stay away from this type of pink. I think something is wrong with me, maybe Spring Fever? I want all the bright pretty colors! Formula was much better on this one, still a bit streaky on the first coat. Second one smoothed it all out and it leveled out much better. Both this and Adrianna dried more quickly than previous Julep polishes, I have used.

 

 

 

 

And just for fun, a little spring time nail art! Dots and stripes, simple and super cute. I love it so much, it makes me smile!

 

The extras in this month's box are really great too. The Rock Star hand creme is awesome, with a nice floral smell. The strawberry mint lip balm is good, a tad oily though. Overall, I am pretty pleased with the box this month. I wish the formulas were a bit better, but it was expected.

 

 

If you are interested in signing up for your own Maven box, click here. Don't forget to use the code "PENNY" to get your first box for one cent.

Nail of the Day: Totally 80's Gradient

Hey all! A quick little "nail of the day" post up, today! Lately, I have been trying out different nail art techniques and decided to give the sponge gradient a try. The Different Dimension polishes I swatched recently (see here for the post) seemed like a good choice for the mani.

 

Different Dimension - Ditz & Whatever

 

For my first attempt, I'd say it turned out really well! There are loads of tutorials on YouTube on how to do a gradient, so I'm not gonna go into any detailed instructions. But I will say, it is super easy, and these polishes work really well for it!

 

 

After doing this, I definitely want to get the rest of the set and do a full rainbow gradient! Ahhhh, just the thought is making me all a flutter!

 

 

Different Dimension is available on Etsy. Prices range from $8.50 - $10.00



Sunday Stamped #5

Good morning and happy Sunday! It's been quite a while since I have posted something for Sunday Stamped. I have been playing around with some of the China Glaze Avant Garden polishes and decided to do a little stamping with one of them. I will have a swatch review of those in a few days, waiting for a couple more to ship to me.

 

 

 

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Black Out over China Glaze - Sunday Funday

Stamp Plate: Bundle Monster BM 208

 

Sunday Funday is such a pretty and bright blue, I just had to use it! I really like the way this turned out even though it it is kind of a fail. I wanted to have darker lines, but the black ended up stamping a bit transparent. I think the result looks like turquoise jewelry.

 

I need to find a good black polish for stamping besides the Konad special black. Or, I need to break down and just go ahead and buy it! I would love some suggestions for a good go-to black!

 

Fashion Friday #4

Happy Friday! Hope everyone had a good week! All I did was run errands, it seemed. But I did have a little time to play around and come up with some fun looks to correspond with a couple of the outfits Camille posted on her style blog, Pretty and Punk.

 

 

Inspiration Look

 

Used:

 

China Glaze - Surreal Appeal

China Glaze - Turned Up Turquoise

 

Striping Tape

 

Inspired again, by the Prabal Gurung line for Target, this one immediately caught my eye. What can I say, I am a total sucker for bright colors. Also, geometric lines seem to be drawing my attention lately as well. Something about them remind me of my art school days, breaking everything down into it's very basic geometric form. Anyway, A very simple mani to recreate, all you need is a little bit of striping tape!

 

I used China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise (love it, so in-your-face bright!) on all fingers except the middle two. On those, I used ChG Surreal Appeal. Once those were dry, I used a couple of pieces of striping tape to make off center diagonal lines going the opposite direction and painted the outer spaces with TuT. I wanted to create a panel effect similar to that of the dress. Definitely an attention grabbing design, when paired with bright colors!

 

 

 

Inspiration Look

 

Used:

 

Essence - My Little Kimono

Essence - Fortune Cookie

Nicole by OPI - One Less Lonely Glitter

 

Zig Zag stickers

 

Now this is an awesome look! I am all about unusual color combinations or colors that shouldn't, but do work well together! I love the dress, I love the loud, rock-n-roll accessories, everything. Two things I realized when I did the mani. One, I need studs, like now. Two, I should have made all the nails yellow like my ring finger. Oh well.

 

Again, a simple look to recreate. I started with my base color, and let it dry. Applied the stickers, and painted the tips. Then, I used a small brush to apply the purple glitter accent across each nail. Top coat everything and done!

 

Next week will surely bring more fun and wild looks!