Monday, April 29, 2013

Sally's Nail Haul

I've been on an indie polish kick lately, so I hadn't been in Sally's much all month.  Which means, I missed out on the buy two get one free promo, except for once at the beginning of the month!  On Friday I got an email about weekend deals at Sallys; and inside was 2/$10 China Glaze, which due to the buy two, get one, really means 3/$10!

I needed to get out of the house for a bit on Saturday by myself, so I ran to Sallys. I've been hoping I can find the China Glaze texture polish, and so far I've come up empty.  I did find the Glitz and Pieces collection on clearance for $3.29, so I picked one of those up, outside of the promo deal.  As for the promo, I got three of their permanent collection colors.  Plus I still had my 15% off coupon for being a Beauty Club member.  So my grand total for all these was $11.88!

From left to right: Thataway, Razzle Me Dazzle Me, Prism, Sweet Hook

Thataway is a unique coral/gold/peach shimmer, from their Core collection.  It's China Glaze, so of course the formula is outstanding and it's opaque in 3 coats. 
I bought this color as an impulse because I needed a third "free"color, and wasn't sure how I felt about it once I got in the car.  Which I'm not ashamed to admit, happens a lot.  But I'm surprised how much I like this color on! It's definitely a keeper!!  I can't wait see what it looks like once my pasty skin gets a tan.

The second is Razzle Me, Dazzle Me from their Glitz and Pieces line from fall/winter of this year.  It's got skinny black bar glitter, giant black hexes, small black and bronze-ish colored hexes, and tiny black glitters.  It's got so much glitter in each swipe on the nail; it's gorgeous.  

Two coats of Razzle Me, Dazzle me over China Glaze Naked
I was having hard time picking up the genuine color of both of the colors in the mani above. It was night time, so dark, and BeBe was sleeping, and she has the best light for my lightbox. But I love this mani. It's so glittery and pretty; the colors go so well together.

Prism is a pretty lavender/silver glitter with a rainbow of different larger glitters in them.  I don't think I would wear it alone, but as an accent nail, it's on! 

The formula is great, of course, and this is only two coats, so it covers very nice.  I don't think it would work well as a glitter top coat since it is easily opaque. It would cover the base polish too much, making the mani pointless.

And finally my favorite of the bunch, Sweet Hook from the Electropop Collection.  It's a pale lavender cream, that is similar to the purple from Sinful Colors Sugar Rush collection.  This is a flat lavender however, unlike the Sinful which has a shimmer undertone to it. 
This color is opaque in three coats, and is doable in two, but it was slightly streaky with the second coat.  The third helped even it out.  It's perfect for a mani by itself, and it's perfect for nail art and other fun ideas, thanks to the thickness of the polish.  

I'm bummed that the buy two get one free sale is almost over, it's good through April 30th, which unfortunately is tomorrow.  But if you have time, get over there now!  Buy buy buy!

~Kat

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Indie Review: Polish Addict's Sweet Dreams

**Disclaimer: I received this product free of charge, in exchange for my honest opinion.  All opinions are my own, and I received no compensation for them.  All reviews are written by me and no way influenced by the providers.

Hey ladies (and possibly gentlemen?)!   I have another indie review for you tonight!  I'm so grateful to these amazing indie creators, for taking a chance on a new nail blogger to get their products out there.  I started following Laura, the co-owner of Polish Addict, on Instagram a few weeks ago.  And since then I have fallen in love with all the insane polishes she's put out.  I purchased my first Polish Addict, Gossip Girl, from her discontinued shop and I love it.  And she recently sent me one of her newest polishes for review!!

May 1st she is releasing her next collection, the Crelly Collection.  There are six colors in the collection, and they all have a milky white "crelly" base.  A "crelly" is creme-jelly base, that has a slightly opaque yet jelly base to it, and one of my new polish faves. It's very versatile.
   Photo courtesy of Polish Addicts facebook page.

So as I said before, the collection has 6 polishes.  From left are: Neon Nights, Standing in the Neon, Confetti Burst, Sweet Dreams, 20/20, and Fireflies.  

I received the fourth polish, Sweet Dreams.

So pretty right?!  It's got the milky white base that all the collection has, and it is literally PACKED with different glitters.  There are the glitters you can see in the macro shots I have here, the blue and green and purple squares, both big and small.  The hexes, again both large and small.  And then there is even more buried inside this treasure chest of polish.  There are also big black hexes, small green stars, and medium purple stars.  Along with tiny blue and green glitters.  There is so much going on in this polish!  And that's a great thing, because I never had to fish for glitters.  I have yet to find a square glitter, or hex other than black, it seems most of those have stuck to the sides of the bottle, but I love the dimension of the black hexes, they were such a surprise that I was not expecting.

First application of Sweet Dreams, in sunlight

This was three coats, topped with one coat of SV.  The polish went on very smoothly, no balding, and like I said, glitters in every swipe.  It builds really well and three coats is the perfect amount.  

Second application of Sweet Dreams, in light box

I hope I get into some of those different colored squares and hexes, but I will love this polish even if they never let go of the bottle wall.  I will definitely be stalking the Polish Addict shop come May.  And who knows, if I leave enough hints for Hubs, maybe I can open the full collection on Mothers Day? He'd be sure to get an amazing Father's Day present if that were the case ;)

Go show Laura's shop some love, support small businesses and indie polish companies!  You won't be disappointed.

~Kat

**Disclaimer: I received this product free of charge, in exchange for my honest opinion.  All opinions are my own, and I received no compensation for them.  All reviews are written by me and no way influenced by the providers.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Swatch Crazy

I've been MIA lately, I've just had no motivation to pull out the laptop lately.  BeBe has been going to bed later, so by the time I have me time, I just have time to paint my nails and by the time they are dry I just don't want to upload and edit pics.  So I'm sorry I have been neglecting all my lovely followers.  To make up for it, I have quite a few swatch pics for you all.

First is from a company called Above the Curve.  They make gorgeous handmade polishes, and $1 from each polish sold is donated to Shiners Hospitals for Children.  Every Friday on their facebook page, they have a bunch of giveaways, and that's how I got my hands on their beautiful purple holo called Wisteria.

Two coats of ATC Wisteria, with flash

It was perfectly opaque in two coats, and I topped it with coat of Seche Vite. I love how well this covered the nail with just two coats.  The color is pure, and the holo completes the whole polish. One can never have too many holos in their collection!  Another thing I loved about this company was when I first received my giveaway prize and swatched it, there was very little pigment to the polish.  Which was inconsistent with other swatches I had seen.  I contacted the company via their facebook, and explained.  They got back to me within a day and explain that they had mixed up the trial batch with the batches being sent out.  I received my new polish within 5 days.  Great customer service, even for a polish that I won.  Thanks for a great polish Above the Curve!!

No flash in light box, two coats

Two coats in sun, one day later


I'm off every Tuesday, and I had the perfect way to spend this weeks off day.  My coworker told me about a new polish supply store she found near our airport.  She told tales of walls full of polish, and $2.50 China Glaze.  This can't be true, can it?!

So I took BeBe to the park (the sun was actually out!) and after we drove to this mythical place with cheap polish.  It sounded way to good to be true, and I figured even if it wasn't that cheap, it would still be worth a trip.  It did not disappoint!  It was a tiny little shop, and it really was walls full of polish.  Color Club, Sation, China Glaze, Orly, OPI...nothing over $8!  My coworker was right, China Glaze was $2.50!  WHAT?!  

All the polishes were grouped by company, but all the colors were thrown together, and not organized.  It was a little tough to shop with BeBe running around wanting to touch everything (she's got her mamas love of polish).  However, I was able to find two of my lemmings!  I picked up 4 polishes, 3 for me, 1 for my nail mail buddy.  

The first color I got was a color I had seen at Sallys in their clearanced polish.  But when I opened it, it was soooo thick that it would be unusable, even with thinner I think.  It's called Angel Wings, and it's from their 2012 holiday collection.

It's a gold based polish, packed with glitter; some holo, some non.  Unfortunately even in the sun, I couldn't quite capture the glitteriness of this color.  For those of you who have been searching for the Ulta exclusive "Ulta-mate Holiday", but are having trouble, or don't want to pay the $25 asking price on eBay, I've got good news for you.  This baby is a 100% dupe.  And it was a whopping $2.50.

The second color is the first of my lemmings.  Not one that I've had a super hard time finding. I just haven;t gotten around to buying it off eBay. 
two coats, in lightbox, no flash

Orly's Miss Conduct, from their Naughty or Nice collection.  This glitter is gorgeous, and bonus, not hard to remove!!  It's a easily applied magenta base packed full of silver macro glitter.  Such a girly color, perfect for almost any mani.  This is the first Orly I really had to have that I couldn't find in stores.  

And one of my biggest lemmings!!!  OPI, My Private Jet.  It's a beautiful brown holo!

Two coats, sunlight

This color is even prettier in real life than I imagined.  I'm so glad I'm not one of those girls who only wears dark colors in the fall and winter!  Because as soon as the sun is out again (not in the forecast for another week, I'm dying) this bad boy will find itself on my fingers again!  Again, this can easily be found on eBay for a really reasonable price, I just hadn't gotten around to it.  And it was only $5 at the supply shop.  How can that be beat?

I will 100% be returning to the supply store (sans BeBe) and I will spend quite some time searching for hard to find, unusual polishes for my never ending collection.

Which are your lemmings, your have to have, can't live without polishes?  

~Kat

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Indie Review: ellagee's 1985 neon shimmers

*These products were given to me free of charge, in return for my honest opinion and evaluation of the products.  All reviews are written by me, and in no way influenced by the companies providing product.

As you remember, a few weeks ago I reviewed ellagee's debut collection sparkling spring wildflowers.  Well since then, she has been making polish like crazy!  And her third full collection is being released this Wednesday, April 17th.  And this is a collection I am SO excited for!!

Introducing, ellagee's 1985 shimmer neons!!  Cue up your Wham! and check these out!

Photo courtesy of ellagee facebook page.

How awesome are those colors!!  And to make them slightly different than most neons, Laura added a bit of white shimmer.  It gives it a more satin finish, and adds a certain amount of dimension and depth. 

So Laura sent me three of the eight colors.  I got "like, totally coral", "gnarly green", and "purp-rageous".  
How gorgeous!  

This is like, totally coral.  It's a gorgeous coral/orange color that goes on like a dream.  Adding the white shimmer was a genius idea, it makes application so easy.  This was two coats, and there was no balding or application problems what so ever.  They dry to a matte finish, and this has one coat of Color Club speedy top coat.  I wish I could show you what they look like in the sun, but Wisconsin (at least southeastern Wisconsin) has had nothing but rain for the last week or so.  I forgot what the sun looks like.

Purp-rageous is next, and this color is gorgeous.  Sorry about the messy application, I was trying to get a mani in quick for we left for our evening out.  I love the shimmer in this color.  It's perfect for any mani.  It's definitely bright, but also more subdued than the others.  If you're not sure about the neon trend, try this color first!  This color, just like the coral and like the upcoming green, has an amazing formula and an easy application.

Gnarly green is definitely for the more adventurous of polish lovers.  But its so pretty.  It's also brighter than this in natural light, but again no sun=no natural light here.  In this picture it looks like a clover green, but it's much more neon in real life.  I love this color too.  I don't know how Laura knows exactly which colors I'm looking most forward to trying, but she has gotten it right two out of two times now!  

All in all I love this collection, and I'm so glad I got to review these polishes.  I definitely need to get some more of this set, like that yellow!!  And it's hard to believe that it gets better, but they do!!

Photo courtesy of ellagee's facebook

They glow in UV light!!  We took BeBe to Dave and Busters last night, and I was hoping I could find some lights to make the polish glow and take pictures for the review, but I was out of luck.  The only luck I had was winning the top prize on their version of "The Price is Right" classic game, "Plinko".  I won 450 tickets!  So BeBe was able to walk out with quite a bit of loot. I am certainly going to get some pictures of these in a UV light for you, even if it means taking them into a tanning bed :) 

Again, this collection will launch on Wednesday April 17th, at ellagee's etsy store here.  Be sure to follow her on facebook as well.  Every Saturday she launches a new color in her $6 Saturday special.  The first 5 bottles sold will be sold for $6, and after that they will go back up to full price ($8.75).  She also has giveaways quite often, and you may be able to win yourself a free polish. So go show her some love, and get your hands on these super radical 1985 neon shimmers; like, totally.

~Kat

*These products were given to me free of charge, in return for my honest opinion and evaluation of the products.  All reviews are written by me, and in no way influenced by the companies providing product.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

April Ipsy Glam Bag

Back in January, I learned about and signed up for the Ipsy Glam bag (sign up or learn more here).  Each month, they send you a beauty bag and it's filled with 4-5 deluxe sized samples.  And usually one item is full sized!  It's $10 a month with free shipping, and you receive your bag around the 10-15 of the month. Then they ask that you review the products and share the looks you've created.  

Unfortunately when I signed up, I was wait listed, due to popularity of the bag.  But this month I finally got my first bag!  

 How cute is the packaging it's shipped in?  I can't wait to continue to see this pink bag in my mail each month!!



How awesome is all this stuff?!  And I was so excited to get a nail polish!  Two of the products are full sized, the nail polish and the Be a Bombshell Blush.  The others are all deluxe sized samples, meaning you can use them all more than once.

The polish I got was Sation's Love at First Byte.  It's a pale, creamy pink.  I'm not a huge fan of the color, but it might be a nice muted pedicure color?

The blush is Be a Bombshell's Sweet Cheeks.  It's a shimmery pink, that looks bright in the container, but it's actually pretty tame and pale in real life, at least on my skin.

Sorry for the awkward hand pose, I'm new to swatching makeup ;)

This is MICA shimmer powder is Earth.  It's a mineral makeup line.  This is a great shimmery nude that I will be using quite frequently, I can tell you that already.  I love shimmery eye makeup, especially nudes.  One of the nice things about Ipsy, is that along with your bag and samples, you get coupon codes for each product, and usually the entire online store for that company!  So I feel I will be using the MICA coupon code!

This shimmer is pale on my skin, but noticable, and I can't wait to try it along my brow bone tomorrow, and maybe the inner corner of my eyes.

I'm excited about the Healthy Sexy Hair Soy Renewal!!  It's a styling treatment that has argon oil, which I love.  The directions on the bottle say to apply a small amount to damp hair to help speed up drying time or apply to dry hair to fight frizz and add shine.  The speedier drying time is why I'm so excited!  I have SUUUUPER thick hair, and sometimes I can stand under a blow dryer for close to 45 minutes. I could have done a cute mani in that time!  And, it smells amazing!  

Another thing about Ipsy, is that you may notice that some people received one or two different items than you did.  In my case, I noticed yesterday that one girl got a pinker Sation polish, an eye shadow by Two Cosmetics, and Big Sexy Hair volumizing powder.  When you signup, they have you fill out a beauty survey, similar to Julep or Shoe Fab, to make sure you receive products you would use the most. I'm so glad I didn't get the volumizing powder, because it's something I would never use, due to the fact I would never need to! 

I'm super excited about this whole bag, and I can't wait to use the products on my face tomorrow!  I have yet to decide on a mani for tonight/tomorrow, so I probably won't swatch the polish for a few days; but as soon as I do, you'll be the first to know!

~Kat

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Gorgeous Glitter

How has everyone's week been? I've been exhausted each night after work, and by the time I get BeBe down for bed, I just have no motivation to do anything.  Of course, I've been doing my nails; that's a given.  But no motivation for anything beyond that.

So I do have a few pics and things for you tonight.  First I've been playing with all those China Glaze polishes I got last week. I have swatches of three of those, plus some amazing glitter I purchased on a whim after seeing it on Instgram.

So best things first, the glitter!  It's from a company called Nabi; and I found it on Amazon for $3.50 shipped.  I have heard of people finding it in random dollar stores, or unusual stores, like hidden gems.  The color I got is called Nabi Jumbo Purple Glitter.

And it's even more amazing in person.

I'll show you the swatches of the polish without the glitter first, and then with this insane glitter.

This is Flying Dragon from the China Glaze Ink collection.  All the colors are super bright, and centered around old school traditional tattoos.  It's a bright (BRIGHT!) purple matte polish with iridescent purple glitter and bright blue glitter.  It's one of the most unique colors I have.

And here is the polish with 2 coats of the Nabi glitter. Please excuse the chips.  I had a rough hand day at work, and I couldn't wait to test the Nabi once I opened it :)
This is Turned Up Turquoise, from the China Glaze Neon collection.  Again, a super bright polish that dries quickly, and matte.  Sorry these are messy, it was before clean up, and it's the only picture of this color I have.


This one, obviously, isn't the clearest of pictures.  But out of focus you can see even more of the glitter, I think.

The one downside to the amazingness of the glitter, it stinks.  Terribly. I'm going to have to figure out a way to counteract that downside.

And this is on my nails currently, Swing Baby, from Vintage Vixen.  For those wondering, I found these in the permanent display at my local Sallys.  This is 3 coats of this gorgeous gold. I love how subtle the color is, yet so shiny and pretty.  I've debated about stamping over this with some dark zebra stripes, but I can't decide.  Maybe I'll sleep on it and decide in the morning?

~Kat

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Two Obsessions Combined!

Well, we all know how much I love polish, and I've recently gotten into a indie polish craze.  But something you may not know; I'm obsessed with Gossip Girl. By obsessed, I mean, I watched the whole thing in about 3 months from start to finish (I didn't watch from the beginning).  I mean, I dreamt about Chuck Bass on a nightly basis, because I watched so much Gossip Girl before bed. And because he's so uh-mazing too (lets be honest).

But, enough about that. So I was screwing around on Facebook a few weeks ago, and an indie maker that I started following Polish Addict, had moved some older colors into retirement, and they were being marked down.  So I had a looksey.  And what did my Chuck Bass obsessed heart find!?

I don't even have to tell you that I didn't hesitate to buy this.  Look at all that glittery goodness!  And that doesn't even begin to show it all.  There are hearts in there!  Pink ones, and red too!!  And bar glitter, and different hexes, and squares; oh my. 

I also have been really lazy this last weekend, and haven't done a whole bunch with my nails; which explains the lack of posting this weekend.  But I couldn't wait to swatch this. Today I put it over one of the 6 new polishes I bought today (more on that later).  And fell in love all over again.

 Sick, right?  I love this.
I kind of want to use this over everything right now! But like I said, I bought 6 more new polishes today.  I have the best husband in the world, and he gave me some moola today and said to have at it.  So I did.  Sally's is having a huge polish sale right now; Buy two, get one free!  Plus I had a 15% off coupon, so 6 China Glaze polishes were $20.06.

 Well hello, pretties.  Welcome home.  From top we have, Japanese Koi (and I wish it showed how neon orange this color really is), Turned Up Turquoise, Flying Dragon (with bright blue glitter inside), No Plain Jane, Swing Baby, and Naked.  I'll swatch them all soon, with a corresponding blog post.  My mani tonight has a few of these, and here is what I did.

I started with the Japanese Koi, with an accent nail of Swing Baby.

And then added leopard spots with the Turned Up Turquoise on the accent nail, and the Swing Baby on my middle fingers.  For a quick tutorial on how I do my leopards, check out this link.

I like the way it turned out, with the contrasting colors.  The neon orange next to the gold is so pretty!  And the gold by itself is soo gorgeous.  I think my next mani will definitely use the Swing Baby.

This post seems really long tonight, so I'm going to wrap things up.  Before you start to think I'm a rambling idiot.  Probably going to go watch an episode of Gossip Girl and drool over the one and only Chuck Bass.

~Kat