Halloween Mani: I Love Nail Polish So Ghoul & Vivid Lacquer Stamping

I have had some Halloween inspired polish on top of my melmers all month in the hopes that it would inspire some holiday manis. I am not one to mess around with freehand art or anything, I prefer to do graphic manis with bold contrasting colors along with some stamping and stud accents. Quick, easy, and looks awesome at the end--that's my kind of mani! I should do a post soon on how I put these together...

Anyway, I have had I Love Nail Polish (ILNP) So Ghoul, unused, for so long that it is still had the old formula. I love the gray, yellow, and black palette of this polish so much and used it as my inspiration. Since I wanted it a little Halloween-y I decided to go with Vivid Lacquer plates in the skulls and hounds tooth patterns--because I couldn't decide what would be more awesome at the time.

Halloween Skittles

Pinky: Dance Legend Ash
Ring: Barielle Lemondrops, 1 coat ILNP So Ghoul, KBShimmer Clearly On Top
Middle: Ulta Concrete Evidence, Vivid Lacquer 001 stamping with Mentality Scoundrel, Glisten & Glow HK Girl Topcoat
Index: Ulta Concrete Evidence, Vivid Lacquer 005 stamping with Mentality Scoundrel, Glisten & Glow HK Girl Topcoat
Thumb: Ulta Concrete Evidence, 1 coat ILNP So Ghoul, KBShimmer Clearly On Top

This is seriously one of my favorite manis of all time! It's like the perfect marriage between Halloween and Fall. I don't know what the deal is lately, but my right hand has been turning out better than my left for the photographs. Maybe I have just been taking my time more on the right hand because I know I'll make it all sloppy if I don't?

So Ghoul has a great formula, but does ILNP make anything with a bad formula? I was surprised to find some short bars in here. So I pretty much hate bars, but these were short enough, sparse enough, and spread nicely so I was okay with it. I believe So Ghoul is retired but you can purchase other ILNP polishes here. There is also a pre-order for holos, ultra-chromes, and holographic ultra-chromes on November 1st!

I was also pleasantly surprised by Barielle Lemondrops, I only used two thickish coats. It wasn't self-leveling but it covered well and a thick topcoat would take care of it.

I want to also take a minute to plug HK Girl Topcoat. I don't know how they do it, but it doesn't smudge my stamping. You must try some, it's amazing! Buy it here.

And of course you know Vivid Lacquer makes my most beloved stamping plates. You can purchase Vivid Lacquer here.

That was a lot for one post, I hope you aren't sick of my skittles yet!
As always, remember to moisturize your cuticles today :-)

Different Dimension: Fall 2013 Holos

Holos have exploded in all their rainbow-y goodness on the indie market. Different Dimension came out with quite a few holos for this Fall and Halloween. DD was actually one of my first indie brand purchases. I remember seeing some swatches and reading a review on a blog, and I decided to try them because there was a coupon code. I still remember thinking it was SO MUCH money haha! Now I'm like $10 for a bottle? That is so reasonable!

Formula: I used 3 coats for all of these. I probably could have done just two coats, but I did add a thin third one just to make sure they were good for the photos. I did not need any black undies or special basecoat, I just used my CND Sticky which was closest at hand.

Photo notes: I take my photos in a light box with two halogen bulbs and a fluorescent light. There was some natural light when I took these in my dining room (my dining room table is a photo studio, it makes the room look lovely...). I can’t depend on sunlight where I live so for the sake of consistency I’m sticking with the lightbox. The holo effect was still pretty strong and was even more so in the sun when I wore them! Here are my holo picks.

Chocolate

3 coats, 1 coat HK Girl Topcoat

I somehow did not have any brown holos in my stash so this was a welcome addition. It's the color of a latte, yum. I daresay this could be work appropriate!

Lucky

3 coats, no topcoat

Fuchsia holo. Not a unique color and I realized I did dupe myself, but still a great polish. I’m keeping this one and passing on the similar color I had.

Nessie’s Revenge

3 coats, no topcoat

 So I pretty much love all the greens and this is no exception. Perfect grass-green holo. Get it. I wore this with some gold studs and it was awesome!

You can purchase Different Dimension polishes and find a stockist near you on their etsy site here. Looks like all of these and Dueling Unicorns (a purple holo) are all in stock as we speak!

Do you remember the old days of indies before all the crazy restocks? Are you feeling any holo burnout?
Moisturize!

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I am now on Bloglovin'!

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You can go to bloglovin' to set up your account to follow my blog, tons of other blogs, and even claim your own blog.

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Jindie Nails For Fall 2013: Breakfast At Tiffany's Cousins & What Are You Smokin' Mirrors

Sorry ladies, little later than I wanted to post this... I just got a awesome new job which I interviewed for on Monday. I pretty much did not sleep since Sunday because of nerves and then I didn't sleep because I knew telling my current employer was going to suck. I think I'm caught up now though!
Anyway, today I have the other two polishes I purchased from Jindie Nails from the Fall Chic collection this year. I wanted to mention again that I purchased the new 9ml bottles and they are great! I didn't use them to photograph because they were hard to pose with.

My swatches are of the two crellies: Breakfast At Tiffany's Cousins and What Are You Smokin' Mirrors. One is a swatch and one is a skittlette I wore for a day inspired by the polish.

Jindie Nails - Breakfast At Tiffany's Cousins

2 coats BATC

1 coat KBShimmer Clearly On Top

Love this crelly! BATC is a teal crelly with blue, green, maroon, and more glitters in assorted shapes and finishes. BATC applied very easily, I did a first coat with mostly the crelly base and then a second thick coat with most of the glitters. I lastly did a little dabbing to fill in where I wanted. I really like the big hexes and the little glitters which give it a speckled look.

Jindie Nails - What Are You Smokin' Mirrors

Pinky: 3 thin coats Zoya Tomoko, 1 thin coat of KBShimmer Clearly On Top

Ring: 2 coats Sephora by OPI Frankly I Don't Give A-dam, studs from Born Pretty Store, 2 coats KBShimmer Clearly On Top

Middle, Index, & Thumb: 1 coat Sephora by OPI Frankly I Don't Give A-dam, 2 coats What Are You Smokin' Mirrors, 2 coats KBShimmer Clearly On Top

This was my favorite polish from Jindie's fall collection. WAYSM is a gray crelly with glitters in silver, gold, holographic, metallic, circles, shimmer, and more. This polish inspired the skittlette's colors, I just loved the gold and silver with the gray. Tomoko is a great accent and the pale gold studs make it very "Fall Chic"!
I used undies for WAYSM, then I did a thin coat with the jelly part followed by fishing and dabbing for the larger glitters. It wasn't too bad at all. I found that for this polish the glitters showed up nicer without another coat of jelly over the top.

What Fall Jindies are your favorite? You can purchase Jindie Nails here--looks like she still has many Fall and Halloween polishes still in stock!

Anyone noticing a difference in their cuticles with daily moisturizing?

Jindie Nails For Fall 2013: Shimmer Me Timbers & Midnight Rainbow

I've finally got some Jindie Nails to show you! This year Jindie came out with five shades for her "Fall Chic" collection and this line also debuted her new 9ml bottles. The new 9ml bottles are amazing! So easy to use and plenty of polish. I had to use a topcoat bottle for the pictures though because I couldn't pose witht he long skinny ones. I've got two of the jellies to show you today, one as a traditional swatch and one as a skittlette inspired by the polish. I did these swatches on different days, and the skittlette I felt turned out better on my right hand. Apparently I am ambidextrous when it comes to nail polish.

I want to discuss formula as they were the same for both. Jindie has some glorious glitters, jellies, and crellies which require some extra patience in applying. Shimmer Me Timbers and Midnight Rainbow both have giant circle glitters which require some fishing and dabbing, worth the effort but you might need a little practice.

Jindie Nails - Shimmer Me Timbers

2 coats basecoat--major stainer, double up on base and paint carefully!

3 coats Shimmer Me Timbers

2 coats KBShimmer Clearly On Top

Shimmer Me Timbers is an emerald green jelly with all sorts of glitter in gold, green, purple, holographic, squares, circles, hexes, and more! I like this a lot, I love greens. There is some VNL but nothing that bothers me.

Application is tricky, I had to do this swatch twice haha. For this swatch I did a thin first coat with no glitter. Then I did another coat with whatever glitters decided to be on the brush. Lastly I did a third coat by fishing and dabbing.

Oops, forgot the watermark! And a little lobster-y here :-/

Jindie Nails - Midnight Rainbow

Index: China Glaze liquid Leather, Image from Nail Craze NC 02 stamped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Silver Sweep

Middle, Ring, & Thumb: China Glaze Liquid Leather, 2 coats Midnight Rainbow, 2 thick coats KBShimmer Clearly On Top

Pinky: Zoya Dahlia, 1 coat topcoat

Midnight Rainbow is a black jelly with rainbow shimmer and holographic circle glitters. I did a first coat with just the shimmery jelly part then dabbed and fished the big circles onto the nail.

I was initially going to stamp with a color, but I think the silver and black really feature the polish much better.

I will have some more Fall Jindies tomorrow! Did you pick any up yet?
Remember to love your cuticles as much as you love your polish :-)

Colors by Llarowe: The Bald & The Beautiful

I hate to show you something that is no longer available, but I loved this mani so much I had to share it!
The Bald & The Beautiful was a duo from Colors by Llarowe to benefit St. Jude’s Hospital and in memory of Talia Joy. 100% of the proceeds from my purchase went straight to St. Jude as Llarowe donated the polish & supplies.

The individual polishes do not have names, so I think of the blue one as “The Bald” and the pink one as “The Beautiful.”

Colors by Llarowe “The Bald” reminds me of a deeper and darker version of Ninja Polish Mystic Glacier. It is SO stunning and the shimmer is completely magical in the sun. I can’t tell if the shimmer is just straight multi-colored or duochrome… all I know is I want it in all of my polish.

Colors by Llarowe “The Beautiful” is a pink tinted jelly with bright pink and holographic glitter. Make sure to click the pictures in order to get a closer look at the shimmery goodness.

I added some matching bright pink pearls to tie the colors together. I think this formula could apply to many combinations of colors: Glitter with matching pearls/studs/gleequins along with a contrasting creme/shimmer.

I loved wearing this mani, I think Talia would have approved.

What do you think about polishes for a cause?
Be as lovely outside as in, take care of your hands and cuticles J

Twenty Minute Skittlette: Pure Ice Touch Me Softly & Essie Beyond Cozy

I had a wedding to go to this past Saturday. My nails and hands were in rough shape, so I decided to do a treatment Friday night (I used Sunny's Hand Cream from 365 Days Of Color and cotton gloves--works like a charm!). This meant I needed to do my nails Saturday and  fast.

I decided to use a suede which was pretty much a perfect match for my dress, Pure Ice Touch Me Softly. This one was part of the Velour line which came out this past holiday. I have several of the Velours and they are amazing! They were LE, but I hope they'll come out with more or you can snatch some up if you see them on a blog sale. I love a suede when I'm in a hurry--it dries fast and looks so sophisticated. They are also very easy to control and result in minimal clean-up.

I also used Essie Beyond Cozy for some accents. I was going for a quick gradient on the index finger but of course Beyond Cozy was too dense, so I had to kind of work it in. It looks a little crackle-y (which I kind of hate) but overall it was okay.
Then stuck a big ol' gold heart on my ring finger with nail glue. Hey, if you can't wear a giant heart to a wedding then when can you?
I took these photos after I got home and they held up really well! Every time I wear a suede I want to buy more suedes. It's sick.

Do you have a go-to quick cover mani?
Remember that moisturized hands and cuticles make the perfect canvas for your polish :-)

When a man picks a polish...

I'm sure you've been there. You have hundreds of bottles in front of you but the choices are too overwhelming and you can't decide what to wear. I had one of those days recently.

Luckily my husband was home! I asked him to pick a color for me. He immediately said "candy apple red." Obviously he is a car fanatic and one of the (many) cars he's always wanted is a 1987 Porsche 911 Turbo in candy apple red. And also the 1976 Trans Am from "Smokey and the Bandit." We actually played "East Bound and Down" for our first introduction at our wedding! Anyway, I digress...

I pulled out China Glaze Cranberry Splash from the Holiday 2012: Holiday Joy collection. It is the perfect glowy candy apple red AND husband-approved. The formula on this is amazing, a careful one-coater.

Of course I couldn't leave it plain so I added some studs. My husband asked me why I needed to add studs to such a perfect color. I think I answered something like, because I'm a girl, haha!

My husband liked the color so much he actually asked me about other car colors which I might have in polish and we went through my stash for awhile. Aww, bonding! Did you know that the first modern nail polish was basically car paint? Yikes, talk about toxic!

What guy in your life would you ask to pick your polish? What do you think he would pick?
Make sure you take a minute to moisturize those cuticles!

Pahlish: The Great Pumpkin Duo for October 2013

Fall is my favorite season and I love everything about it, especially the polish! I love the bright colors and crazy glitters, every year my stash seems to grow exponentially. In Western New York we have a beautiful autumn. I don't think I could ever leave the area for this reason alone. I have a very dear friend who moved to Florida and she misses fall like crazy. We have agreed that I can enjoy fall though because she gets to enjoy the beach in the winter haha.

I have another Pahlish Duo to show you today inspired by the classic holiday cartoon "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" My pinky nail on my swatching hand is a little nubby, so I had to photograph my left hand. I hate when that happens.

The Great Pumpkin Duo

A Most Sincere Pumpkin Patch & Bag of Rocks

Most Sincere Pumpkin Patch is described by Pahlish as "a multi-shimmered black jelly with gold, olive, pink, and copper shimmers."

The formula on this was amazing. I used just two coats to achieve the depth of this black and have it shown with no topcoat. It is opaque but I also felt like I could fall into it. The shimmer is shy, but when the light hits it just right you see this beautiful hidden sparkle that gives the polish a multi-dimensional sheen. I own nothing else like this.

Bag of Rocks is described by Pahlish as a "clear base topped with a mix of gunmetal and chartreuse glitters in hex/squares/circles accented by a subtle olive green shimmer."

As always, Pahlish's glitter formula is perfection. I used just the brush to do my gradient and then one thick-ish coat of KBShimmer Clearly On Top.. The square glitters have a very slight reflective curl, but they do not feel curled at all. How does that work? I don't know. All I know is I love this. It's a different take on Fall and Halloween plus I have nothing like this in my stash.

So what do you think? You can purchase your own duo here.
Keep your cuticles moisturized, fall is dry!

SquareHue The Moto Collection for October 2013: Swatches & Review

I feel like SquareHue is a hot-button topic. Me, I've always been fond of my SquareHues. I find that their colors are very runway-informed and not things I would typically buy for myself--usually in a good way.
SquareHue also donates a portion of their proceeds to The A 21 Campaign which is an organization devoted to raising awareness and stopping human trafficking.

I realize this collection is no longer available, but you might see them pop up on blog sales and I wanted to share my SquareHue experience!

October 2013: The Moto Collection
From left to right: Oil Slick, Iron Horse, Desert Grit

You Polish Monthly Box for October

I have another box review today! I saw some You Polish swatches and decided to try out their monthly box. For $16.99 (that includes shipping!) you can choose two full-sized polishes from a monthly selection in a variety of colors and finishes. Of the six polishes available for October I chose the two I am going to show you today: After Midnight and Calaveritas. Keep reading to see some nail art, too!

You Polish October Monthly Box

After Midnight

Black Jelly with Orange, Purple, & Silver Micro Glitter

Two coats over China Glaze liquid Leather

I felt that the Purple leaned more Magenta and I saw green sparks along with the silver--all quite fine with me! What you see in the bottle is what you get on the nail! Formula was very good, thick but easy to apply.

 Calaveritas

Black, White, Gray, & Pink Glitters--and SKULL GLITTER!

Shown over OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls

This is the polish that made me check out You Polish. SKULLS. You Polish tells us that Calaveritas means "small skulls" or "skulls" and is inspired by sugar skull tattoo art. Love love LOVE. To apply I turned my bottle upside down while I was swatching my other polish as the large glitters are sinky. I applied a first coat and did a little dabbing, then I did some major fishing for the skulls. I would fish around and when I caught one on my brush I grabbed it with a toothpick and placed them on my nails, without looking too planned. Completely worth the effort and overall a good formula considering the large glitters which was a very pleasant surprise!

I felt like I didn't choose the best undies for the swatch and I planned on wearing this awesome glitter anyway, so here is my skittlette featuring Calaveritas. I don't even care how cliche this mani is, I freakin' love it!

Index--3 coats SquareHue Happy Creme, white studs from Born Pretty Store
Middle & Ring (& Thumb, not shown)--2 coats Sephora by OPI Break A Leg-Warmer!, You Polish Calaveritas
Pinky--3 thin coats Zoya Dahlia
All topcoated with 2 thick coats of KBShimmer Clearly On Top

Sorry for the zombie skin, I took this without flash so you could see the glitter goodness!

For more information and to purchase You Polish, you can visit their shop. I will for sure be checking out the November box, I hope there is another holo selection then to try!

Do you think black & pink are overdone? Will you be checking out You Polish?
I know you've loved your cuticles today ;-)

Different Dimension Fall & Halloween Glitters

Today I've got my picks of the glitter toppers from Different Dimension's Fall and Halloween offerings. These glitters are nothing short of fantastical and packed with so many unique glitters--stars, hearts, moons, dots and more!

Fall 2013: Mystified

Shown over OPI My Very First Knockwurst and Sinful Colors Nirvana

Mystified is made up of caramel, brown, and lavender glitters. This is so girly and gorgeous, I wore it after I was finished swatching. Mystified applied very easily, I used one coat with a little dabbing to fill in on some nails.

Halloween 2013: I Ate His Liver With Some Fava Beans And A Nice Chianti

Shown over Orly Coachella Dweller

Not only does the name completely creep me out, it is so long! In my spread sheet I just refer to it as "IAHLWSFBAANC."

IAHLWSFBAANC is green, purple, and black glitters in pretty much every shape and finish available. My camera is a simple point and shoot so I think it had a hard time focusing on all the different glitters. I applied this one by dabbing a blob onto the middle of my nail and pushing the glitters around where I wanted them, then did a little fishing and dabbing to fill in. It was actually very easy and all the glitters laid well on the nail.

Halloween 2013: Have The Lambs Stopped Screaming?

Shown over Sally Hansen CSM Ressurection

This is another one where the name creeps me out, I refer to it as Lambs hehe. Lambs is described by Different Dimension as a "deconstructed monarch butterfly" which is a perfect description. These glitters are Black, White, and Orange in all different shapes, sizes, and finishes with holographic dust. I used the same application technique for this one as with IAHLWSFBAANC. My lightbox kills holos but you can still see how prevalent the sparkle is. I loved the undies I chose for this, I will for sure be wearing this again!

For more information and to purchase Different Dimension polish, you can visit their etsy shop.

So what do you think? Do you like seeing the glitters over a couple different colors or would you prefer all one color? Or maybe just over black and/or white? Let me know!
Love those cuticles ;-)

Llarowe's A Box, Indied for October 2013: Swatches & Review

Llarowe is a renowned indie stockist in the nail polish world and the single biggest reason for my credit debt. She recently came out with "A Box, Indied" which is a monthly indie offering of five unique polishes exclusive to the box. I tried to limit pictures as there are five polishes but this post is still picture-heavy!

A Box, Indied

October 2013

Jindie Nails - Screaming Halloween

3 coats OPI Fiercely Fiona
2 coats Screaming Halloween plus a little extra fishing and dabbing
1 thick coat CND Air Dry

 

Let me begin by saying I love Jindie. Not only does she make incredibly unique polishes, she is also a complete sweetheart! Unfortunately for me, this color makes me look like a zombie. I love the concept though, just look at the bottle shot, yum!

Any of you gals blessed with any significant amount of melanin (I swear I have none haha) would probably be able to pull this off with no problems.

Black Cat Lacquer - Came Back Haunted

1 coat China Glaze Liquid Leather
2 coats Came Back Haunted
1 coat CND Air Dry

This was my first experience with Black Cat Lacquer, no complaints here! This is a sheer black jelly with multi-colored shreds and holographic micro shimmer. I swatch in the middle of the night and my lightbox kills holos (sadness, I am working on a solution) so the holo shimmer actually looks simply multi-colored in my photos but I promise it's there. 

Make sure you shake the bottle well and turn it upside down for a bit as the larger shards are sink-y. I think this looks like shredded Halloween candy wrappers from a frantic sampling of trick-or-treat spoils haha. It also looks like confetti and I could see this for New Year's manis, too!

Polish Me To Go - Luna Verde

3 coats Orly Day Glow (white) and 3 coats China Glaze Kiwi Cool-Ada (accent)
2 coats Luna Verde, no topcoat

Polish Me To Go is also new for me. Luna Verde (love the name!) is a sheer lime green with silvery flakie shimmer. I had a hard time figuring out how to wear this. It is incredibly sheer so I wanted to try it like a topcoat and sort of by itself. It looks nice as a topcoat but the glow is very subtle. On the other hand it doesn't look that exciting over white, but the glow was incredible! I had no idea what I was doing while trying to photograph this in the dark, but I'll show my picture anyway so you can see the difference over dark verses light colors.

In person the glow was pretty awesome and not blurry like my crappy photos look, I'm sorry I couldn't do it justice. Glow-in-the-dark polishes are fun, but I only see them glowing for the few minutes before I fall asleep so I feel like the novelty is wasted on me.

Lacquerlicious - No Tricks, Just Treats!

Undies are China Glaze Gaga For Green, Sephora by OPI Hi Def, China Glaze liquid Leather, China Glaze Grape Pop
1 coat No Tricks, Just Treats! plus some fishing and dabbing
1 coat CND Air Dry

Another new brand for me! This polish is a Halloween glitter bomb, I couldn't even begin to list the glitters involved in this chaos so just refer to the bottle shot...

Wow! Anyway, I initially tried this over a light purple and a light peachy orange. All I will say it it looked awful and I recommend black or bold colors like I'm showing you now. I prefer it over the black and dark purple, I feel like it just looks like a mess over lighter colors.

Ethereal Lacquer - Devoured

3 coats Devoured
1 coat Glisten & Glow HK Girl Top Coat (doesn't dull holos!)

Now this is what I'm talking about! Devoured is a very deep plum holographic polish. I know the holo market is pretty saturated right now but this is classy, sexy, vampy--the quintessential fall polish. I probably could have stopped at two coats, but I used three for photographic purposes. If you see anyone giving theirs up just throw your money at them and take it.


Surprisingly there are still October boxes and subscriptions available on Llarowe's website here. I think a lot of people passed because of the swatches, but there are some real gems in here. And really, can I NOT buy something that is exclusive and/or limited edition?! I do have the subscription and I hope to continue showing you the monthly offerings to either sign up yourself or track down just what you *need* from blogs and personal sales.

That was a lot for one post, thanks for sticking with me!
I hope you took some time while reading to moisturize those cuticles ;-)