Thanksgiving Mani. Featuring Liquid Sky Lacquer

First and foremost, Happy Thanksgiving!! When I was planning a manicure for the holiday, I went back and forth with whether or not I would do nail art. With visions of cute turkey accent nails dancing in my head, I decided to skip the frustration and just stay simple. 

But when I say simple, I don't mean your run of the mill, everyday color. I'm talking about some of the best holos I've seen in indie polish lines. Please let me introduce you to Liquid Sky Lacquer (www.liquidskylacquer.bigcartel.com)!! This is a polish line you will definitely want to check out, soon!!

I received my first Liquid Sky Lacquer from my Halloween polish swap, thanks to Instagram. I got four minis, three glitter toppers and one of her gorgeous holos in Pumpkin Pie.

So when I was thinking about my mani yesterday I thought, Pumpkin Pie is obviously the color I should use for Thanksgiving! 

       Quick shot of my mani essentials

   Shoot, my cleanup brush got cropped!

I start every mani with a base coat or treatment of some sort. Lately I've been using Nail Defense strengthing treatment by Orly (love!). Then I used 3 thin coats of Pumpkin Pie and quickly topped it with Seche Vite. I use an E.L.F concealer brush to clean up around my nails and cuticles. How awesome does that Pumpkin Spice scented acetone remover look!?  More on that later!

 How amazing is this holo effect!?  This is in regular everyday, in my house, lighting! I don't think I've ever seen such a pronounced holo without flash or the sun!   And when you're done drooling over this one, take a look at this shot I grabbed in the sun this morning!

I'm in love. As if I wasn't completely obsessed with holos already, I'm now obsessed with all things Liquid Sky Lacquer!

I'll leave you with this parting shot, an extreme close up of te beauty!! 

If you're interested in more Liquid Sky Lacquer, follow it's creator Carolyn, @whimsicalcolor on Instagram!

Enjoy your holiday tomorrow!!  

~Kat 

Some Faves with Essie Polish

I have been obsessed with my fall and winter Essie's lately. I wanted to share a few of my manis I've done with them lately. I have Sable Collar and Mind Your Mittens from the winter collection, and Cashmere Bathrobe from the fall collection. 

First up a solo shot of Cashmere Bathrobe. The perfect fall grey with a subtle silver shimmer to it. I love dark pedicure colors in the winter. I like the dark polish against the bright white snow. 

 Next is a mani with both Mind Your Mittens, a creamy navy blue, and Cashmere Bathrobe. The accent nail is Cashmere bathrobe with all other nails being Mind Your Mittens. And stamped with a Bundle Monster snowflake stamp. Stamped with Essie's Good as Gold. duh a cute early winter mani. 

And I saved the best for last. I'm straight up obsessed with this manicure. It's probably my favorite out of all that I've done. I wish I would have taken pics during, but it was a really simple process so I'll just explain. 

I painted my nails with one coat of Essie Good as Gold. And when that was dry, I placed a piece of striping tape across the bottom of my nail. After I painted above the tape with, you guessed it, Mind Your Mittens. All topped off with a coat of Seche on top. Gorgeous, if I do say so myself. 

Enjoy your night lovelies!

~Kat

Another year...

Why does time go by so quickly?!  Last weekend we celebrated Honey's FOURTH birthday. 

FOURTH!?

How is this possible. Why don't they stay baby's for longer than they do?  I still remember the day she no longer let me hold her for her bedtime bottle.  And now she runs into her classroom when we get to school, barely looking back. 

I know this is a nail, well more so beauty, blog. But I've been MIA lately as I've been spending time with my rapidly growing up baby girl. And while I don't have any planned out nail posts for you, I wanted to share a few photos from her party. 

    Who needs a fancy-schmancy cake?

This was the first time she had friends at a birthday party and she couldn't wait for them to arrive!  And I couldn't believe she sat still while I curled her hair. 

       Family shot with the birthday girl

And can I brag about another thing quickly?  

We don't have much room in our house, and most of Honey's room was taken up by her unnecessary full size bed. So I had the brilliant idea to get her a loft bed. 

Only loft beds (well the cute ones) are really expensive. Like $500 expensive. So off to Pinterest I went. And I found this:

           Photo taken from Pinterest 

Has ever a more perfect bed been made for a princess?!  

Luckily for me a very close friend of the family is an engineer and loves building things. So for the cost of lumbar, he built Honey her own version:

          Painting done by yours truly

Ignore the pieces that clearly aren't painted. I didn't follow directions and thought they were support pieces to attach the bed to the wall. 

It's been two weeks since the bed went up, and she spends 90 percent of her time in there. 

And the worlds largest Barbie princess castle has been moved out of my living room!!  

Hallelujah!

Nail stuff next time, pinky swear!!

~Kat 

Review of LA Fresh Acetone-Free nail polish removing pads

Tonight I got an INSANE nail mail package. I signed up for the Instagram trick or treat nail polish swap, and got my swap package today. I've been slacking and haven't even sent mine out yet. Tomorrow!!

One thing (among many) that I got in the package was LA Fresh non acetone nail polish remover pads. 

 

I was really anxious to use them and see how well they worked. I had a subtle rose gold shimmer nail polish on tonight, sorry there are no pictures!  

 

First thing I noticed, it smells amazing!!  It's a "fresh Tuscan orange scent" according to the package. It certainly doesn't smell like polish remover. Unfortunately it doesn't work like polish remover either. 

Well I swiped and swiped and rubbed, and pressed it on the nail, with no real results. But I did notice how it made my cuticles and nails look. Much better than they do after using 100% acetone remover on them!  So I had a genius idea! 💡💡

I removed my polish with my acetone remover, and then followed it up with the LA Fresh wipe. And voila, conditioned nails and cuticles that don't reek of chemicals!!

Those don't look like nails attacked by acetone!

The cuticles feel nice too, and not dried out. 

Verdict: not so great on the removing aspect, but they do condition the nails and cuticles and it does smell 1000 times better than normal polish remover!  Don't buy them for their removing powers, but then for their conditioning powers!!

~Kat 

Breaking Polish News! New OPI Collaboration

I just saw this on Facebook and HAD to come here and let you all know!  Because I would be doing my job if I didn't!  

OPI's next polish collaboration will be with rock goddess Gwen Steffani!!!  I really really really hope this isn't someone messing with my emotions, because this is going to be a great collection!  

These are all screenshot that I took, so I don't have any more information than the pictures I'm currently sharing. I am on the OPI press release list, so when I get more information I will share with you. I promise. 

~Kat

Love, Angeline Polishes

Everyone knows how much I love the na community on Instagram, and how many new polish lines I've found thanks to them. And tonight, I have another one for you!!  I found this indie maker thanks to @lusterlacquer and her swatch of "Anchors Away". 

So of course, I purchased "Anchors Away, Abracadabra, Hypnotise, and Ta-Da!"  They are all glitters, heavy on the glitter!  And beautiful. 

I have swatches of all today, except for Hyponotise. I'll start with the color that started it all! 

Anchors Away is a gorgeous sheer white based polish, filled with large navy blue hexes and smaller yellow hexes. Very nautical and summery. I did wear this over a basic white polish so I didn't have to build up the white base since it's so sheer. And an FYI: I wore this polish for 3 whole days(I was busy painting a princess bed for a little girl) and had no chipping; I only lost one blue glitter!!  

Second I have a swatch of Abracadabra! 

This color is a sheer grey jelly, again absolutely packed with glitters. This one has purple and gold hex glitters that appear to be about the same size. I wore this one with no undies and it's three coats to make it opaque. This is so packed with glitter that no fishing is necessary, and each swipe will leave your nail covered in glitters. This is a *slight* downside, only because it can leave the polish looking a little chunky and uneven before using a top coat. But is too much glitter a real thing?  No, so don't worry if it looks slightly chunky, top coat evens it out!

And last we have Ta-Da! 

This color is another sheer white, like Anchors Away. And again I used a basic white underneath.  Along with the white, this color has silver/grey large hexes, and two different shades and sizes of pink squares.  One is a darker, reddish color and the other is softer pink. I love this for spring. It's a very cherry blossom like feel to it, that always makes me think of spring and blooming flowers.  

Love, Angeline polishes are so soft and feminine. From the labels that look almost handwritten and delicate, to the soft grays and pinks that dominant some of her collections. Her labels are some of my favorites among the indie community. 

She currently is getting ready to release two new fall collections. And you can either get the colors just solid colors, or as holo colors. And I can't wait for them to be released so I can spend all my money on them. 

If you're interested in Love,Angeline polish, check her out on Instagram @loveangeline and her website www.loveangline.com. Happy shopping!!

~Kat 

Cheetah Mani with a Twist.

Disclaimer: This product was sent to me by the manufacturer, free of charge, in exchange for my honest opinion. 

A while back I was contacted by KKCenterHK for a sponsorship. They would send me two products in exchange for my opinion and a feature on my blog. I happily accepted!  Still being a small blog I was thrilled they has found me and were interested in me!!

So I chose two products, and have my first  choice up for review. 

                 How cute is this?!

I was so excited for these!! I had seen 3D bows on Instagram forever and I couldn't wait to get the ones I chose from KKCenterHK!  I picked pink and black cheetah print, figuring I could easily make the cutest matching mani!! 

There were actually two in the bag, but in my excitement I did my mani and then took pictures of everything! Go figure. 

Anyways, I used China Glaze White on White for the base, and Sinful Cotton Candy from their spring Sugar Rush collection. And Orly's Liquid Vinyl. I did the cheetah mani like all the others I have done (you can find cheetah mani tutorials on the blog) only I left the ring finger on my left hand solid pink. Using a drop of Out The Door topcoat as glue, I placed the bow in the location I wanted it and pressed firmly for a minute or so. 

                            Love!

I did not do the same thing on my right hand. I painted all those nails the same, with the Cotton Candy accent nail, and did black and white cheetah on that nail. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of my right hand. 

I do of course have one of my left!!  

                     Ta-da! How fun

And now the real question, how long did it last?  Well!  I actually removed it the night before bed so I wouldn't lose it. And it stayed on all through the day!  Granted I was very conscientious of the bow all day, I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't just pop off within an hour or so. 

My only complaint, and this is Sinful's fault, not the bow company, is that I still have a polish stain where the bow was almost a week later. 

I did save the bow, and the second one, so I could continue to reuse them. I can't wait, because I love the look, and got a ton of compliments on my nails that day. And who doesn't love that!?

If you're interested in purchasing these bows, or any other items from KKCenterHK, you can find them at: http://www.kkcenterhk.com

~Kat

Disclaimer: This product was sent to me by the manufacturer, free of charge, in exchange for my honest opinion.