Guest Post from Polished to Precision

Happy Halloween! I did my Halloween wine tour a couple weekends ago to celebrate, anyone else have any fun plans? I have one more guest post this month to celebrate my one year blogiversary. If you haven't entered my giveaway yet make sure you do for your chance to win some of my favorite indies. Tell a friend, too!

Today's post is from Tiffany at Polished to Precision. Her nails are my spirit animal. Flawless swatches and lots of indies, that's how she rolls. I always enjoy seeing what she does from plain old swatches to nail art. Let's see what she has for us today!

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Hi there Polished Babes! I am Tiffany from Polished to Precision. I am excited to be here sharing a post with you all today. Shelby is an absolute sweetheart and super talented lady! Aren't her nails always flawless? Whether she's doing a swatch and review post or some sophisticated nail art, Shelby certainly brings her 'A' game with each and every look. Thanks for much for inviting me to your blog dear!

I can be a bit of a rambler, so let's get right into the look I created for you all. I know Shelby really loves Pahlish, so I knew that would be my starting point for the manicure. I decided to pull out a pretty that has been sitting in my untried box since I received it. Pahlish Over the Rhone is described by the brand as "a dusky navy jelly with metallic silver flakes and very soft silver shimmer." This is one of the Bespoke Batch series that Pahlish releases weekly. It's one of the most coveted polishes they've released. I missed it when it was first release, but thankfully they launched it for a short preorder and I was able to snag one. #winning I used two coats and topcoat (KBShimmer Clearly on Top) on my thumb, pinky, and index fingers. I absolutely love the depth of this beauty!

Polished to Precision for Shelby Lou Nails
Pahlish Over The Rhone, KBShimmer PT Young Things, Zoya Ryan, Nail Vinyls

For the ring and middle fingers I used KBShimmer PT Young Thing, a silver holographic polish with a perfect formula. I used two coats and topcoat. For the design on these nails, I used the KBShimmer wavy nail vinyls. Zoya Ryan (a deep navy blue creme) was the perfect match to the base of the Pahlish, so I added one coat and immediately removed the vinyls. Topcoat was added to seal the deal.

Polished to Precision for Shelby Lou Nails
Pahlish Over The Rhone, KBShimmer PT Young Things, Zoya Ryan, Nail Vinyls

I really like how this came together! I am no nail artist my any stretch of the imagination, but I can almost always pull off a look using nail vinyls. LOL! Anyway, I hope you like the look I created. Thank you for taking the time to read along today. If you ever have a moment, please stop by and check out me out at Polished to Precision. 

Polished to Precision for Shelby Lou Nails
Pahlish Over The Rhone, KBShimmer PT Young Things, Zoya Ryan, Nail Vinyls

Smooches!!

Tiffany

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Wow, I love this look! Done with three of my favorite brands no less. Not gonna lie, I fainted a little when I saw these, especially because of Over The Rhone. I am so impatient with vinyls and end up mussing my mani, I really enjoy the look though. Thank you for all of the kind words, Tiffany, and for posting for me today!

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Guest Post from The Polish Playground

There is still time to enter my 1st Blogiversary Giveaway but it's winding down! 

I am busy obtaining my new car today, but I do have a guest post is from Lisa at The Polish Playground! There are a few things I love about her. The first is her nail shape. She proves you don't have to have long square nails to have pretty nails, let alone be a blogger! In my opinion she is always rockin' it with some pretty nail art, from the simple to more intricate. Lisa is also a huge supporter of the nail and blogging community. She always has a kind word for everyone and is so encouraging, and I am a fan of people who build others up. I am so pleased to have her here today, let's see what she has!

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Hello everyone! I'm Lisa from The Polish Playground and I'm so honored to be doing a guest post for Shelby Lou today. I've been a reader of hers for a while and was so excited when she asked me to guest post for her. To celebrate her blog anniversary, I decided to create a manicure with a fun accent nail to it. She is like the queen of accent nails so I wanted to do one to honor her.

The Polish Playground at Shelby Lou Nails
OPI I'm Suzi & I'm a Chocoholic, Nostalgic Nail Lacquer Sloth, China Glaze Prism
Bow from Born Pretty Store

I used OPI I'm Suzi & I'm a Chocoholic and Nostaglic Nail Lacquer Sloth on all the nails except the ring. For the ring, I used China Glaze Prism. I created the accent nail using striping tape. I applied OPI I'm Suzi & I'm a Chocoholic on top and then peeled the tape off when the polish was still wet. I also applied a bow stud from Born Pretty Store. Finished with Glisten & Glow HK Girl Top Coat.

The Polish Playground at Shelby Lou Nails
OPI I'm Suzi & I'm a Chocoholic, Nostalgic Nail Lacquer Sloth, China Glaze Prism
Bow from Born Pretty Store

Thank you again to Shelby Lou for having me guest post today on your blog! Happy blog anniversary to you and I hope everyone has a great day. If you want to follow me on my other social media sites, check me out on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The Polish Playground at Shelby Lou Nails
OPI I'm Suzi & I'm a Chocoholic, Nostalgic Nail Lacquer Sloth, China Glaze Prism
Bow from Born Pretty Store

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Queen of accent nails? I'll take it! Thank you so much for posting for me today,Lisa, this is such a great fall mani and the accent is amazing. Make sure you follow The Polish Playground for more beautiful manis and inspiration for your own nail art, you'll be glad you did!

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Guest Post from @JoyRSerio

October has been nutty for me, what is the deal? Last week I'm all minding my own business, planning on blog stuffs and training for the Red Cross... then my husband informs me I have to go test drive a couple cars he found. Since my lease is up in January I figured I wasn't allowed to whine about it. I know I'm lucky because he knows a lot of local people in the car business from working in it himself. His negotiation skills are so impressive he has legit been offered a job after talking down one of my past leases. It looks like I am going to be getting a 2007 Lincoln MKX in the deal of a lifetime. We need a larger vehicle with all the home improvement stuff we do and it's AWD for the snow. I'm not sure how I feel about it though. I've always driven cute little cars (okay except for that one time I had an Oldsmobile) and now I am going to be that obnoxious SUV driver taking up the whole road. I am also terrified of breaking it since I will be paying on it approximately forever. And does it look like a pimp-mobile to anyone else? 

Make sure you enter my 1st Blogiversary Celebration Giveaway while you're here!

Today I have a guest post from my real-life nail polish bestie, Joy. We actually met because she works with my mother-in-law and it ends up we actually enjoy each others' company. And hey, we can talk about nail polish for hours! I met her around the same time I was thinking about starting a blog, and she encouraged me to just go for it. So I did! She has been a great source of support and a wonderful friend. I'm so excited to see her nails in blog format.

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So, first of all, I want to congratulate my girl Shelby on her one year Blogiversary!  I was lucky enough to meet my nail obsessed friend through a co-worker and am so proud of what she has done in the first year of her blog!

I am not a blogger, but am thoroughly nail obsessed. I prefer the Instagram thing (feel free to follow me @JoyRSerio) as I just love posing pictures. For those of you that don't know me, I am an indie whore. I became obsessed a little over two years ago and ever since rarely buy mainstream. I'm also a Disney geek and Halloween is one of my favorite holidays of the year. So when I was shown the "Halloween at the Park" duo by Sweet Heart Polish and Polish TBH, I knew I had to have it and bought it right away!

Both of these indies are new to me. I happened to have one of each brand in my untrieds and I'm going to have to get those on my nails after trying these out!  I bought the duo through Sweet Heart Polish and I had these in my hot little hands three days after ordering (even though they shipped from California to NYS). Quick shipping is huge to me, once I need a polish, I NEED THAT POLISH! I'm sure every single one of you can relate.

I absolutely loved everything about these polishes. Mickey's Sweet Treat is a clear base packed with white Mickey heads and an assortment of white, yellow and various orange glitter stars, hexes, squares and circles. My husband said it is the perfect candy corn polish. It looks amazing both with shiny top coat and matte, but. I prefer the matte.

Sweet Heart Polish - Mickey's Sweet Treat
"Halloween at the Park" duo with Polish TBH

Sweet Heart Polish - Mickey's Sweet Treatwith Butter London Matte topcoat
"Halloween at the Park" duo with Polish TBH

Not So Scary Halloween had me sold on the name! Halloween at Magic Kingdom is one of our favorite events! Polish TBH nailed it here! From the black jelly to those orange glitters to the. Mickey heads and everything in between, it represents the party perfectly!

Polish TBH - Halloween at Magic Kingdom
"Halloween at the Park"duo with Sweet Heart Polish

Polish TBH - Halloween at Magic Kingdomwith Butter London Matte topcoat
"Halloween at the Park"duo with Sweet Heart Polish

Both polishes were easy to apply, turning the bottles upside down for ten minutes prior to painting helped me avoid "fishing" for Mickey glitter. The only drawback to this duo is I now wish I was going to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party this year! It's really not so scary!

This duo is priced at $20 plus shipping and can be found at:
www.sweetheartpolish.com
www.polishtbh.bigcartel.com

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Thank you, Joy, for taking the time to do a guest post for me! I love these Halloween polishes and that I got to see a new-to-me brand on my blog...maybe she will let me borrow them next October. Joy microblogs on instagram, make sure you check her out. She mostly posts indie polish (macros and matte!) as well as some cats, selfies on good-make-up-and-hair days, sports, and food pics sprinkled in. I am so glad to have met this girl and I hope you enjoyed her nails as much as I do!

Bonus mani pic!
Niagara Hallowine Trail 2014

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Guest Post from Will Paint Nails For Food

If you haven't entered my First Blogiversary Celebration Giveaway yet, make sure you check that link!

Today's guest post for my 1st blogiversary celebration is brought to you by Will Paint Nails For Food. I have been a fan of Meghan's art for quite some time. Admiring Meghan's nails, to me, is like going to a fine art museum, looking at the beautiful works of art and knowing full well you ain't gonna be paintin' the Mona Lisa any time soon! Meghan actually kind of helped me break in to blogging. She had a "From The Readers" series last year and I submitted a skittle mani (see it here! And I fangirled for like a week haha). The photo is crap and the angle makes my hand look really fat, but hey, it was a start, so thank you, Meghan!

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Hi everyone! My name is Meghan and I have a blog called Will Paint Nails for Food. I do both nail art and swatches, and if I had to say what my focus is, it would be freehand nail art. I was very excited when Shelby invited me to do a guest post. I've known her even before she started her blog, and she's one of the very few people in the blogosphere that I've actually met personally! And she's incredibly nice and talented! So thank you Shelby for having me here.

Falling Leaves
Will Paint Nails For Food for Shelby Lou Nails

It's been getting chillier here in Toronto, and I haven't done any fall nail art yet, so that was the motivation behind this design. I wanted to keep things simple, therefore, I decided to have a plain background, with some falling leaves that were outlined for detail. I also wanted to keep the focus on the leaves and the shimmery polishes I used to paint them. 

Falling Leaves
Will Paint Nails For Food for Shelby Lou Nails

I started with a base of OPI My Vampire is Buff. If you follow my blog, you know I'm kind of obsessed with this polish. Unfortunately this particular bottle was not my friend, because it took 4 coats to get full coverage. I painted the leaves in with Renaissance Cosmetics Portland, Runnymede, and Spadina, and Zoya Beatrix. The outlines were done with Van Dyck Brown acrylic paint and a fine detail brush. It's a really good colour for when you want dark lines or shadows, but don't want to use black. I topped it off with KBShimmer Clearly On Top and Cult Nails Wax That.

Falling Leaves
Will Paint Nails For Food for Shelby Lou Nails

I really like the simplicity of this design, but I kept questioning whether I should add more to it. In the end I decided to keep things as is. What do you think? Do you like it as is, or should I have added more details or a background?

Falling Leaves
Will Paint Nails For Food for Shelby Lou Nails

Thanks again Shelby for having me here! And congrats on your first year of blogging!

Falling Leaves
Will Paint Nails For Food for Shelby Lou Nails

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These leaves are perfect and I love them so hard, Meghan! Or should I say, Dr. Meghan--yup, she now has her PhD and we must call her Dr. It was so lovely to meet up with her earlier this year and talk about polish and life, and she is as nice as her nails. If you haven't been following Will Paint Nails For Food... well what are you waiting for??

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Guest Post from The Dalai Lama's Nails

I meant to have this posted Monday, however wine trips are not conducive to blogging--but check out my nails from Saturday on instagram!

Make sure you enter my First Blogiversary Celebration Giveaway if you haven't already. It ends November 2nd, tell a friend!

Today I have a guest post from The Dalai Lama's Nails! I have to say I feel a special affinity to this blog name. My birthday is April 8th and this is also the accepted birthday of the Buddha. And so, my high school World History teacher (who was totally awesome) dubbed me "The Shelby Lama." It almost became my blog name. When it came time to ask for guest posts I knew I had to ask this amazing lady, and I almost fell off my chair when she had the time to accept. Hannah is one of the bloggers I go to for amazing freehand nail art and today she does not disappoint!

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Hi there everybody! My name is Hannah, and I blog over at The Dalai Lama's Nails. I am so honored that Ms. Shelby Lou asked me to guest post for exciting blogiversary! A blogiversary is a very exciting thing (I'm approaching a blogiversary, myself!). I've absolutely loved getting to know Shelby, and her nails are divine. I thought I would honor her blog by recreating some of her nail art that I really love. Shelby did some really cool nude and neon zebra stripes a while back that I adore. I'm not much of a stamper, preferring generally to freehand. This is my take - freehand nude and neon zebra stripes!

I began by applying two coats of OPI My Vampire is Buff, which is one of my favorite nude shades for nail art. Then I used a small detail brush and OPI A Definite Moust-Have to create the zebra stripes. I top coated with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

A big thanks to Shelby Lou for having me as a guest post today! If you want to check out my work, you can head on over to The Dalai Lama's Nails. 

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So I am totally in love with these nails! I am a stamper myself, but these freehand neon stripes over the best nude ever... *drool*. Teach me your secrets, Hannah! If you are not following her already, you are welcome. The Dalai Lama's Nails is also about to celebrate three years of nail blogging which is quite an achievement! Thank you so much, Hannah, for doing today's post for me and making them so perfect :-)

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Guest Post from Boom Shaka Lacquer

Hey hey! It's been a crazy week for me but I've got another guest post to wrap it up. Karel from Boom Shaka Lacquer and I started blogging about the same time last year. We talked a lot in polish groups and she is a lovely lady, I'm so happy to have her on the blog today!

So there are actually TWO giveaways for our blogiversaries going on that you need to check out:
Boom Shaka Lacquer One Year Blogiversary Celebration
Shelby Lou Nails First Blogiversary Giveaway

Okay, let's see what Karel has for us today!

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Hi!  My name is Karel (or Relly) and I am the blogger and head nail polish addict over at Boom Shaka Lacquer.  I was excited when Shelby asked if I wanted to do a guest post to help her celebrate her Blogaversary month.  It just so happens that it’s MY Blogaversary month too because she and I started about the same time!  

I decided I would share a fun Jindie-cure with ya’ll since it’s a brand that both Shelby and I adore!  Without further ado I give you a cute skittlette (something that Shelby inspires me with, her gorgeous skittlettes!) featuring Jindie Nails Fantastical and Blue & Green’s Love Child.

Boom Shaka Lacquer for Shelby Lou Nails
Polishes used:   Tip Top - Toughen Up Basecoat; Jindie Nails - Fantastical and Blue & Green’s Love Child; Gothic Gala Lacquers - Smooth Me Over; Digital Nails - Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat

For this skittlette I put three thin coats of Fantastical on my fore, middle, and ring fingers. Fantastical is a bright coral crelly based polish filled with holographic, metallic, and satin glitters in white and teal.  I’m particularly fond of the large teal holographic dots and the white satin stars!  Then I put ONE coat of Blue & Green’s Love Child on my pinkie and thumb. Blue & Green’s Love Child is a gorgeous teal holographic polish.  Like all Jindie holos they aren’t what I would call linear but they are extremely unique and rich looking.  After that I used some YouPolish chevron decals as masks I created the chevrons on my ring finger.

Boom Shaka Lacquer for Shelby Lou Nails
Polishes used:   Tip Top - Toughen Up Basecoat;  Jindie Nails - Fantastical and Blue & Green’s Love Child; Gothic Gala Lacquers - Smooth Me Over; Digital Nails - Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat

Let’s talk about how awesome the formula is on Fantastical!  Jindie does crelly-based glitter polishes like no one’s business.  I decided the first time I wore this that I would love this type of polish forever.  Now it did take me a little while to become proficient at applying them but with a little patience and a couple of tricks anyone can do it!  I start with a thin layer as a base for color, I don’t worry about glitter at this point, if some gets there cool if not no worries I’m going to get glitter later!   Then I apply a second thin coat taking care to make sure that any glitters that are deposited are where I want them, if they aren’t I might nudge them a bit with my brush.  Sometimes I can get away with two coats this is a lighter colored crelly so to smooth things out I did another thin coat and much like the first coat I’m not so worried about getting a ton of glitter on this one I just want to even everything out.  Voila that’s all there is to it!  I top it off with a nice thick topcoat or in my case I went with a glitter smoothing topcoat and a quick dry for ease and it’s smooth as glass and just gorgeous!

Polishes used:  Tip Top - Toughen Up Basecoat; Jindie Nails - Fantastical and Blue & Green’s Love Child; Gothic Gala Lacquers - Smooth Me Over; Digital Nails - Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That Topcoat

You can get Jindie Nails polishes from several fine stockists but the easiest way I’ve found is straight from her website. You can also follow Jindie on Facebook and Instagram. So, hey if you liked this you can also keep up with me on Facebook and Instagram as well!  

Thank you for allowing me to take over your blog for a brief moment Shelby and Happy Blogiversary!

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Karel got it right, we both love Jindie! This is a brilliant combination and totally makes me want Fantastical so I can make this mani myself. Thanks for helping me celebrate and happy blogiversary to you, too, girl!

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Hump Day HARE: Dead Man's Bones

Purchased By Shelby Lou

Today is an exciting day for me! I start my training for the Red Cross disaster response team. It's like going back to school haha! In my area this means mostly responding to house fires, but also other traumas or events which affect the community. I've wanted to do this forever but a recent tradgedy in my community gave me the push I needed. My father was at the small local airport he is a part of the day Young Eagles were going on flights. There was a terrible accident and one of the pilots and his 15 year old passenger were killed. This has only ever happened twice in the history of the program. It was absolutely devastating and my dad said it was horrible to see all the kids and families learning about the accident when the plane had not returned. The Red Cross responded with support for the community and with my license I can provide that "psychological first aid." I love this type of work and can't wait to get out there!

Okay on to the lighter content (sorry, guys!). Today I have Hare Polish Dead Man's Bones, a gray jelly with black matte microglitters and white satin glitters. The jelly is really sheer so I layered two thin coats over KBShimmer My Life's Porpoise. I needed it more opaque to go with my accent nail inspired by the color palette--a water marble decal!

Hare Polish - Dead Man's Bones
shown over KBShimmer My Life's Porpoise

Is it watermarble or water  marble? I don't know. I also can't remember who suggested this first, please tell me in your comments who it might have been! Now there are so many and google is just giving me nonsense now. I like to take nail art slow so I spent a few days just playing with polish and making the marbles. It was ridiculous amounts of fun. I tested the polishes I wanted to use first and then just laid the dry circles on a paper towel to air dry. For this marble I used China Glaze Liquid Leather and Maybelline Bare Escape. I streaked my decal a little while top-coating but all in all I am pleased! Water marbling is now attainable for the masses. Also: WATER MARBLE ALL THE THINGS. Who is with me?!

Make sure you enter my giveaway still happening until November 1st. Send a friend over to check it out! You can enter via rafflecopter here.

Oh, and today is the launch of a new Hare Polish collection! Holy carp, too much excitement for one day. You know I'm buying them all.

Products:
Hare Polish
KBShimmer

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Guest Post from Dagadelic

I had a lot of my own posts I wanted to get done last week but this week I'm back with another guest post! Today I have the lovely Dagmara of Dagadelic. We met through a mutual friend and when I finally checked out her nails I was like, how did I not know this girl sooner?! She always does such lovely manis full of stamping, freehand, and, of late, watermarbles. On to the mani!

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Hey there! My name's Dagmara and I've made my way over from my own little space in the interweb - Dagadelic. I'm honoured to be guest posting for Shelby who has been a tremendous source of support and nail inspiration. I wanted to come up with something snazzy to help her celebrate her 1 year blogiversary (congrats girl!) so I pulled out an old favourite and a new nude polish.

L'oreal - Doutzen's Nude // A England - St. George

MoYou London - Fairytale Plate 05

I've been lusting over the Nude Collection L'Oreal did during the summer but every time I went to go get some they were sold out. Then a miracle struck and I found a few bottles in the sale bin. This nude is a light dusty purple that reminds me of the Zoya Naturel collection. 3 thin coats made for perfect coverage. I stamped with my all time favourite polish to stamp with - St. George. So much sparkle in the sunshine *.* 

And with that I'll be off! Let me know what you think in the comments!

Thank you so much Shelby for the opportunity to guest post.

If you want to see more of my manicures feel free to go over to my blog: Dagadelic.

I'm also on Facebook, Instagram, Bloglovin, and Pinterest.

xo, D.

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My friends know me so well--Nude with some colorful, holographic stamping? Yes please! Thank you so much for the amazing mani (St. George is a favorite of mine, too) and the kind words.
Dagadelic is also celebrating her two year blogiversary this month, wow! You can check out her post and enter her giveaway here for a $50 gift card to a polish e-tailer.
While you're at it, don't forget to enter my 1st blogiversary giveaway here for your chance at some Pahlish Bespokes and HARE polish For the Love of Lisa.

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Go Green for World Mental Health Day 2014

Purchased By Shelby Lou 

If you have not heard I am a professional social worker (I have a master's degree, license, and everything) and I love my work. Today is World Mental Health Day and this year the theme is "Living With Schizophrenia." Schizophrenia is a very misunderstood illness and it is so unique to each individual. I know I am in danger of getting on a soapbox here and writing a novel... suffice to say with the right treatment, medication, and support this diagnosis no longer means a lifetime sentence to an institution. To learn more about World Mental Health Day you can visit the World Health Organization (WHO) website. To learn more about schizophrenia I would recommend reading this article from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) website.

Green is the awareness color for mental health, so today I have a green mani to share. In this look the yummy green holo base is Jindie Nails Today's the 1st Day of the Rest of Your Life. I chose this green in particular since it is also part of Jindie's Recover-Me Collection (I reviewed three others here) dedicated to addiction awareness.

World Mental Health Day 2014
Jindie Nails - Today's the 1st Day of the Rest of Your Life
MoYou London Pro XL 02
Rica Blackout

I chose to stamp an image from MoYou London Pro XL 02 in Rica Blackout. These are my holy grail brands right now for plates and stampers! I am so pleased that I was able to stamp a full mani, no sweat. This image reminded me of the horizon logo of a local mental health organization so I thought it fitting for today.

Who else is rocking green? Mental health is so important and as a person who has her own demons to battle, I am so thankful for the support I have in maintaining my mental health and it inspired me to make it my career. I hope everyone takes the opportunity today to check out some of the links I provided to learn a little more or maybe even be inspired to help, too!

Don't forget to enter my 1st blogiversary giveaway!

Products:
Jindie Nails
Rica
MoYou London

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Hump Day HARE: The Monster

Purchased By Shelby Lou

It's that time of the week again for some HARE! Typing up this post for Wednesday is actually making me feel more optimistic about the week... since it's almost half over haha. I'm covering for a person that is on vacation this week so I'm all out of my element and out of whack. Apparently I adore routines. I actually ended up having to leave work an hour and a half late on a Monday to make sure someone got a necessary piece of medical equipment and that another person was going to be getting a much needed mental health eval. Don't get me wrong, I really like my job, but man, that was one rough Monday! Oh did I mention I'm already working overtime on Saturday?

Make sure you enter my First Blogiversary Celebration Giveaway going on now! The prize packs include two Pahlish Bespokes and Hare Polish For the Love of Lisa. And again, thank you for hanging out and chatting about polish with me :-)

Today's Hump Day HARE is The Monster. I happen to have the newer reformulated version, but it is still a weird (in a good way) gray-green jelly with matte black microglitter, green shimmer, and I think I see some silver or gunmetal glimmers as well. I own nothing like it! It is very sheer so I decided to layer two coats over two coats of OPI Mermaid's Tears. Mermaid's Tears brightens the color up and intensifies it.

Hare Polish - The Monster
Shown over OPI Mermaid's Tears

I decided to try out OPI Black Spotted over The Monster because I can never leave well enough alone. This is actually a mani fail that might kinda work? I put on too much Black Spotted (I'm out of practice with it) and then I tried to wipe it off a little but the pinky had dried too much already... then I just slapped some triangles on because studs make everything better! Maybe. I don't know, it covers up too much of my beloved HARE but it does look kind of cool and Halloween-y. So there we are.

Hare Polish - The Monster
With OPI Black Spotted

What Halloween HARE do you want to see next week--Bio-Exorcist, Heffalumps, or Dead Man's Bones?

Products:
Hare Polish

Have you loved your cuticles today?

First Blogiversary Celebration!

All items and prizes were purchased By Shelby Lou 

One year ago today I finally started my blog and posted my first manicure. It has been one exciting, scary, crazy, and fun year! I've met some lovely people and learned so much from so many. I have a lot of plans for the next year and I hope you will stick with me. I love connecting with other polish-aholics and escaping reality through pretty polish! Every like and follow still makes me smile and I thank you from the bottom of my Pretty & Polished Swift Sparkle topcoat ;-)

I will be continuing to have guest posts all month long in celebration, but for today I decided to recreate my Queen Skittlette from this day last year. It's almost exactly the same, just a few updates (hello, triangle studs!).

Darling Diva - We Will Rock You
Dance Legend - Argentum with one coat TC
Stamp - Vivid Lacquer
Stamping Polish - Pure Ice Silver Star

I am pleased that my photography and poses have improved, but there are still a lot of things I'd like to get better with. Check out We Will Rock You with flash--rainbows! That multichrome shift though...

Rainbows and shift, oh my!
Darling Diva - We Will Rock You
(with flash)

So you know I can't celebrate a first blogiversary without having a giveaway! I have been hanging on to a few special polishes for a couple months now. There will be three lucky winners! Check out the photo captions for more details about prize packages. And yes, I had to track down some Dollar Tree Essie Sleek Sticks.

Three prize packages will each include:

1 feature polish

1 of my favorite mani must-haves

3 sheets of Love, Angeline Nail Shields/Stickers

2 Essie Sleek Sticks
Paper stars made by me, inspired by Chaos & Crocodiles!

A closer look at the feature polishes:
Pahlish Bespoke Batches: One Billion Day Funeral & Favorite Kind of Smile
Hare Polish For the Love of Lisa

Giveaway begins NOW and will end at 11:59pm Eastern on November 1st--Note that the rafflecopter says November 2nd at 12am, I'm just making it easier since 12am always confuses me. Must be able to supply a US address and be 18 or older to enter. For more specifics check out the terms and conditions on the rafflecopter form. Good luck and thank you for your support!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Have you loved your cuticles today?

Guest Post from Be Happy And Buy Polish

Quick announcement: I got a little too involved in giveaways this month, so here is the first one you need to check out. Boom Shaka Lacquer also turned 1 (on October 1st), go check out her awesome giveaway here! I contributed a prize pack of two Essie Sleek Sticks, Lumina Lacquer Child-Like Empress, and Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter-A-Peel. I will also have my own giveaway starting on Monday!

This month I will be sharing lots of guest posts from some lovely ladies I have come to know and love in my first year of blogging. To kick us off I have Jessica from Be Happy And Buy Polish! Jessica shows off all kinds of polish from indies and mainstream to expensive gems and cheapies. Lets see what she has for us today!

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Good morning everyone! If we haven't been introduced before, I'm Jessica and I blog over at Be Happy And Buy Polish. I'm a wife, a mom, social media coordinator, and an artist. I'm a little goofy sometimes, but I try to stay upbeat most days. I'm happy to be guest-posting for Shelby for her blogiversary! She has such a lovely home here on the internet. :)

For today's look, I started off with 2 coats of Précision Nail Lacquer Sage. If you've never tried Précision before, I really encourage you to give them a shot. They have great colors, and the price is right (come on down!!).

Precision Nail Lacquer - Sage
Be Happy And Buy Polish

I then used a long striping brush with Précision Poison Ivy (green), Intoxicated (glowy pink), The After After Party (blue), Toxic Wast-ing My Time (bronze), creating horizontal stripes on all nails except my accent nail, which I created vertical stripes.

Precision Nail Lacquer
Be Happy And Buy Polish

I hope you like this simple yet visually interesting look! Let me know what you think in the comments below, and tell me a little something about yourself. You can find me at my blog, Be Happy And Buy Polish; I'm also on Facebook, twitter, google+, tumblr, and instagram. Thanks Shelby!

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Thank you, Jessica, for your lovely swatch and nail art! She does some great art from the simple to the advanced (which I just sit back and admire haha). I so need to steal her glitter background, too. Be sure to follow Be Happy And Buy Polish on your favorite social media platforms for more!

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Hump Day HARE: Love You To Pieces!

Purchased By Shelby Lou 

October 6th is my First Blogaversary. I have a few giveaways and guest posts planned for this month to celebrate. Thank you so much for your support!

Hump Day HARE is a new feature I'd like to start to show off my beautiful HARE polishes. I don't know if it will be every Wednesday but it will be at least twice a month. HARE is my favorite indie EVER and I own pretty much every single one. I'm about to need a second melmer drawer for them!

Love You to Pieces! was released for Valentine's Day earlier this year. Nikole, the creator of HARE, explained her mother has been telling her "Love you to pieces!" her whole life. LYtP is a red-toned jelly packed so full of flakes I can't even take it. Gold, silver, red, and lavender flakies aboundwith plenty of additional shimmer. I don't know what is with my sudden obsession with purples, but I am liking it.

HARE polish
Love You to Pieces!
Valentine's Day 2014

My swatch shows four thin coats of LYtP. It was so beautiful and unique I didn't even want to do an accent nail, although it might end up stamped tomorrow. You can see what looks like tip wear... that's just silly me forgetting to wrap my second to third coats of the jelly. Jellies and I have only recently become friends so I'm still learning. And of course--imagine this polish 10 times more gorgeous in real life. It is one of those polishes you could stare at all day and never get bored.

HARE polish Love You to Pieces!
My attempt at a "macro"

I believe this polish is still randomly restocked in HARE's etsy shop. If you even kinda like flakies I highly recommend Love You to Pieces!

Products:
HARE polish

Have you loved your cuticles today?