Firecracker Lacquer: Winter Wonder

Press Sample

Today I have a new indie brand to share with you: Firecracker Lacquer. Isn't that name the best? I had gotten to know the maker Kendahl, who also blogs over at The Stepmom Chronicles, just before she debuted her line in July. She recently sent me a couple pretties from her new Winter Wonder Collection to share with you guys!

This is Jolly Holly, a dark green jelly with tiny red glitters and teeny white stars. I used three thin coats, making sure to layer in the stars between each coat. The formula was really easy to work with. This is a very dark jelly and I lose some of the red glitters depending on the light, I just adore the white stars though!. I also like that I can get this opaque enough to avoid VNL. I added a lil bow from Daily Charme.

Shelby Lou Nails
Firecracker Lacquer Jolly Holly

Shelby Lou Nails
Firecracker Lacquer Jolly Holly

Shelby Lou Nails
Firecracker Lacquer Jolly Holly

Drop The Ball is a silver mircoglitter in a clear base. I chose to layer one coat over Essie Mint Candy Apple, which you can see has weirdly turned blue. I've seen a few mainstream polishes this shade have this problem, but dang, it's still pretty! I didn't have to fuss with this glitter, just slapped it on and it distributed perfectly. I love it so much over this color and can't wait to try a gradient with it.

Shelby Lou Nails
Firecracker Lacquer Drop The Ball

Shelby Lou Nails
Firecracker Lacquer Drop The Ball

Shelby Lou Nails
Firecracker Lacquer Drop The Ball

The Winter Wonder collection released last Friday and is available now! Check out some of Kendahl's other creations while you are there. I have all of the Captivating Creatures polishes and they are great! I have my eye on some of the other Winter Wonder polishes, too. She also has a really nice selection of studs, I love the teeny triangles I purchased from her earlier this year. Let me know what you think about this new indie!

Products:
Firecracker Lacquer

Have you loved your cuticles today?

KBShimmer Holly Back Girl

Purchased By Shelby Lou 

Super-duper quick post today, ladies! Christmas has been so busy for me. My little brother is visiting from out of town and I've been seeing him every second I can. So here is the mani I've been wearing for this festive week!

Shelby Lou Nails
KBShimmer Holly Back Girl
Accent done with Nail Vinyls Chevron
OPI Cinnamon Sweet with KBShimmer I Only Have Ice For You

I started with three thin coats of KBShimmer Holly Back Girl, aka my new holy-grail Christmas polish. It's the jelly that makes this so wonderful!

Shelby Lou Nails
KBShimmer Holly Back Girl

The glitters are so perfectly dainty. Love love love. It applies easily; I didn't have to do any dabbing or placement, just use a light touch.

Shelby Lou Nails
KBShimmer Holly Back Girl
Accent done with Nail Vinyls Chevron
OPI Cinnamon Sweet with KBShimmer I Only Have Ice For You

I enjoy the Christmas season so much that I actually continue to celebrate it for the 12 days after Christmas too... which is actually how it is supposed to work, not the 12 days before (so there, I'm still listening to Christmas music!). I have no excuse for starting this nonsense in November though haha! Did anyone else get Holly Back Girl? If you love Christmas and white jellies, this is a complete MUST HAVE. #sorrynotsorry

Products:
KBShimmer
Nail Vinyls

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Jindie Nails Christmas Swatch Spam

Press Sample--Jindie Nails Polishes
Purchased by Shelby Lou--All other products

Today's post is brought to you by nubbins. I hate winter because my nails take twice as much care. I tried rounding them out after a couple broken corners, but I hate them round. I know I'm just not used to it and really they looked fine, but I just dislike it on myself. I wish I could rock the short rounds like some of the greats such as The Dalai Hannah, Wondrously Polished, and The Polish Playground!

In case you are not already in the Christmas spirit, here are a bunch of lovely Jindies to help out. Personally, I was in the spirit around November 12th though--don't judge me.

Shelby Lou Nails
Jindie Nails Holly
Shown over China Glaze I Need A Re-Fresh Mint

Above is Jindie Nails Holly over China Glaze I Need A Re-Fresh Mint. This swatch shows one coat with the red glitters fished and dabbed on. Really nice formula for the little glitters and the red ones were easy to get! The white bow I had from Born Pretty Store and used it in almost all of my swatches. You can pick this polish up in Jindie's etsy store.

Shelby Lou Nails
Jindie Nails The Snow Must Go On

This is Jindie Nails The Snow Must Go On, one of my favorite holiday crellies! I love the lime green glitters mixed in and the teeny stars. Lovely formula, I did three thin coats and then dabbed a few stars and red circles where I wanted them. There are plenty of all the glitters so they were easy to grab. This one is available on the Jindie Nails website.

Shelby Lou Nails
Jindie Nails Just Elfing Around
Shown over Essie Borrowed & Blue

Jindie Nails Just Elfing Around is a lovely red, white, and pale green glitter topper. I have it shown over Essie Borrowed & Blue. This is what I think of when I think of Christmas indie polish! Jensent me an 8ml bottle of this but I think I want buy myself a full size. I can see this over pinks and greens, too. I easily painted on the little glitters and dabbed on the bigger ones. You can purchase this one through Jindie's etsy shop.

Shelby Lou Nails
Jindie Nails Through The Eyes Of A Child
Shown over Essie Going Incognito

Jindie Nails Through The Eyes Of A Child is a shimmery Christmas glitter topper that has everything but the kitchen sink. Every shape of Christmas glitter is in there and I don't think you could get them all on your nails in any one mani. I painted on a shimmery coat and then fished and dabbed the other larger shapes. I did three coats of topcoat to get a completely smooth finish. It occurred to me that dabbing the big shapes on first may have decreased how thick this felt on my nails. I have it shown over Essie Going Incognito. Unfortunately I don't see this one in either Jindie shops right now.

Shelby Lou Nails
Jindie Nails A Surprise Inside
Shown over Orly Coachella Dweller

Lastly is A Surprise Inside, one of the Santa's Secret Sack exclusive polishes. I love this one! I have shown one coat over Orly Coachella Dweller, the accent nail has two coats. You could easily wear this in two coats on its own. I found that applying it like one of the Zoya PixieDusts was easiest. I think I love this one because it reminds me of faded vintage ornaments. And the holo glitters aren't too shabby!

You can purchase Jindie Nails polish through her website or etsy store listed below. Check out the other Christmas goodies she has while you are there!

Products:
Jindie Nails
Jindie Nails on Etsy

Have you loved your cuticles today?

2014 Edition: Oh, Christmas Tree

Purchased By Shelby Lou 

Today is the last day to enter my Christmas Trio Giveaway! It ends tonight at 11:59pm EST. Don't be a Grinch, make sure you tell a friend ;-)

I know today is normally reserved for HARE, but I just had to share this before it went out of season! Last night I was messing around with my nail vinyls. I redid a few nails after attempting to get those adorable chevron stripes to work on my other hand--I think my nails are too curved or something, I can't get them to stay down and get crisp lines. Anyway I was about to quit nail vinyls forever when I noticed one of my vinyls looked like a skinny Christmas tree... so I made a Christmas tree! I used KBShimmer Vinyl Nail Decals from the Tribal Themed Sheet in the "Connected Triangle Lines" pattern.

Supply List:
Tweezers
Laquerlicious Peppermint Twist
KBShimmer Tribal Themed Vinyl Nail Decal Sheet--"Connected Triangle Lines"
Essie Going Incognito
Jindie Nails The Snow Must Go On--A single teeny red star
a-england Merlin
KBShimmer Clearly On Top

While I wouldn't call this a tutorial, I do have a visual of how I did my little tree. I already had on Laquerlicious Peppermint Twist. I love this polish and it was a great crelly formula! I am so into small glitters lately. Below is a picture showing the placement of the "Connected Triangle Lines," I used tweezers to help place them and then peel them off after I painted Essie Going Incognito in between. I love this color, I am almost halfway through my bottle and that is unheard of in my stash!

Shelby Lou Nails - Oh, Christmas Tree - 2014 Edition

I fished out a teeny red star from Jindie Nails The Snow Must Go On, dabbed it on a piece of paper, then placed it with my trusty tweezers. I dry-brushed on some silver glitter from a-england's Merlin for a little sparkle. I topped everything off with two coats of KBShimmer Clearly On Top, it's my favorite quick-dry TC to use over bumpy glitters.

Shelby Lou Nails - Oh, Christmas Tree - 2014 Edition

Here is the finished mani and how I am going to enjoy it for at least one more day (I just got a bunch of Christmas swatch mail from Jindie Nails, woo!). My favorite part about this tree is I didn't need to fool around with many extra supplies. I am easily frustrated and have no desire to labor for long over nail art. 

Shelby Lou Nails - Oh, Christmas Tree - 2014 Edition

Here is a close-up of my tree. I love it so much! Even my husband was impressed. It's so teeny but the lines are perfect. Ok, maybe I won't be getting rid of my nail vinyls... now who is going to go make a tree? If you try it share a picture with me on facebook!

Shelby Lou Nails - Oh, Christmas Tree - 2014 Edition

Products:
KBShimmer tribal Vinyl Nail Decals
Laquerlicious
Jindie Nails
a-england

Have you loved your cuticles today?

SquareHue Rovaniemi Review

Purchased By Shelby Lou (Hex Nail Charm)
Press Sample (SquareHue Polishes) 

Have you entered my Christmas Trio Giveaway yet? There's not much time left to enter!

You will notice I rounded out my nails this weekend. I'm not sure how I feel about them, but this attempt at rounding has been more successful than past ones haha. Square/Squoval is just so much easier to shape. I lost two corners this weekend though that I couldn't work into the squoval. Oh well!

Today I have a review of the December 2014 Box: Rovaniemi. I was so flippin' excited when I opened the box and even more so when I realized there were three different finishes inside. I also appreciate that this last installment of The Passport Collection is a town on the Arctic Circle where Santa Claus visits during the holidays! So did the polishes live up to this nail polish/childhood mash-up I concocted in my head?

SquareHue Sampokeskus
12.14 Rovaniemi
The Passport Collection

First is Sampokeskus, a pale gold textured microglitter. These are Finnish names I can't even begin to pronounce, so I am just going to affectionately refer to this one as Sam. I had to swatch this one twice. The first time I didn't anticipate how quickly it would dry. I tried to do a thin first coat but that ended up a clumpy mess. The second time I did two medium-thick coats. Once I got over that application hurdle I was pretty pleased with Sam. It is a unique shade of gold and looked lovely on. Now I could not personally wear this because the texture is quite rough, but I think texture lovers would enjoy it.

SquareHue Revontuli
12.14 Rovaniemi
The Passport Collection

Revontuli is an evergreen suede. This application was rough. I had to redo this swatch because I got a lumpy mess the first time. When I applied this the second time I started with a ridge-filling basecoat and applied a medium-thick coat. Then I repeated the ridge-filler and did a last thick coat. And I also dumped a little of the polish and added a ton of thinner. This is a really fast-drying formula, much more like a plain old matte. It drags and clumps so easily. It's not often a polish application makes me want to scream but this one did. It looked passable but not as good as I would like. Revontuli, oh how much I wanted to love you... but alas I cannot. Especially when I have Zoya Veruschka which applies like butter. Hey, the little Hex Nail Jewelry tree is cute though!

SquareHue Joulupukin Pajakyla
12.14 Rovaniemi
The Passport Collection

Joulupukin Pajakyla is a blue-toned red jelly with red microglitter shimmers. I am going to nickname this one JP haha. I did three easy coats of this beauty, clean-up was easier than I anticipated with the red because of the jelly-type formula. Is it unique? In my collection it is. I like the subtle microglitter shimmer of it very much and it was easy to apply. I think I might be wearing this one to work tomorrow!

So a bit of a mixed review here. To have two polishes with application issues kind of makes this box a fail. This really mystifies me though, because when I subscribed in 2013 I can't remember any formula issues with their polishes (you can check out previous posts about SquareHue on my blog here). All I can think is the mattes threw them off their game. I'm sad that I have to post about this experience for a review when I had 12 good months last year! I'm still personally thinking about starting up my subscription for 2015. We will see what the nail budget brings. Any other SquareHue subscribers or veterans out there? Thoughts?

Products:
SquareHue

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Zoya Wishes Collection for Winter/Holiday 2014 (PART 2)

Press Sample

I know I meant to get this up Thursday. Leave me alone. Have you entered my Christmas Trio Giveaway yet, though? It ends in soon!

Today I have the rest of the Zoya Wishes collection to show you. I think once you see these amazing PixieDusts the collection will make more sense. All three of these Pixies are jelly-type textures with holographic glitter. They do not dry down too matte but maintain most of their shiny jelly-ness. I did two and a half coats for these swatches. I dabbled on the first coat, painted the second, and dabbed on patchy areas for the third (half) coat. They were all actually really easy to apply. My husband recently picked up a nail dryer from a flea market for me and it really helped speed the drying process. He found mine for only $5.99 and I don't know how I lived without it until now! Learn from my mistake, ask Santa for one this year.

Zoya Imogen
Wishes Collection

First is Zoya Imogen, a black PixieDust with silver microglitter and holographic hexes. Where was this when I was a little emo-punk girl?! So much more awesome than plain black polish. I am dying for a silver skull stud now... Wouldn't this be so glamorous for a New Year's Eve party and a little black dress?

Zoya Nori
Wishes Collection

Zoya Nori is a sapphire blue PixieDust with silver microglitter and holographic hexes. I love jewel tones in the winter and this is stunning! It's icy and glacial and perfectly wintry. I haven't seen the movie Frozen (I might be the only one) but I have heard quite a bit about it (that's an understatement) and I image this is what Elsa would wear.

Zoya Thea
Wishes Collection

Lastly is Zoya Thea, a deep purple PixieDust with orchid microglitter and silver holographic hexes. This was my surprise favorite. What is it about purples lately? I used to love blues as a rule but purple is just winning my heart. This. Is. Fabulous. If you can only get one PixieDust I suggest this one, it will be seasonally appropriate from September to March and could pass as work appropriate for most people!

Now, how did I feel about the texture: Previously I have discussed at length how much some textures freak me out. Since these were a jelly-type base they did not feel as sandy, it was more like a chunky glitter bomb before topcoat. Which is fine by me! I am happy to report that this texture-phobe is pleased with these Pixies.

Now that you've seen the Pixies what do you think about the whole Wishes Collection (see Part 1 here)? It is nicely cohesive and offers traditional, edgy, and trendy finishes to please all. So while there are no reds, golds, or greens and instead black, blue, and purple, I've got to say I am impressed by this collection! Will you be picking any up?

Products:
Zoya Wishes Collection

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Zoya Wishes Collection for Winter/Holiday 2014 (Part 1)

Purchased By Shelby Lou (Daily Charm products)
Press Sample (Zoya products)

Make sure you've checked out and entered my Christmas Trio Giveaway! All are invited to enter (as long as you have a US shipping address for me) whether you celebrate Christmas, something else, or nothing. There is only one Christmas polish in there so I think anyone would be pleased with the loot :-)

In other news, I have come to the realization that I am a twice-a-week blogger. I just can't keep up with doing full posts three days a week. I start to get cranky and it becomes no fun for me. And I'm sure my husband doesn't like it either haha! I'm going to be posting more nail art and NOTDs on instagram, twitter, and facebook while keeping swatch-and-reviews here. Let me know what you guys think about my new plan as it unfolds!

Today I have swatches from the Zoya Wishes Collection. Wishes consists of three PixieDusts and three corresponding colors in more traditional polish finishes. It's unexpected, let's see!

Zoya Prim
Accent from Daily Charme

Zoya Prim is a frosty periwinkle metallic. There's that f-word so many of us cringe at... I used two coats of Zoya's Get Even basecoat and two careful coats of Prim, finished off with Zoya's Armor.
Objectively Prim is a lovely color and the formula was nice and thick while still being easy to work with. The brushstrokes were not too bad in real life. And it looks pretty cute with the Deco-inspired charm from Daily Charm. Will I wear it? That would be a nope. I happen to know this makes an excellent stamper though, so I will be trying some wintery art with it :-D

Zoya Willa
Accents from Daily Charme

Zoya Willa is a black creme. I used two coats and Zoya's Armor for topcoat. Formula is nice and thick; highly pigmented, but easy to work with and clean up. When I first saw this though I was kinda like, really Zoya? But once I made myself be objective about it, I realize we must all have basics in our lives. It's a fact, like paying bills or buying toilet paper. But just look at how friggin classy it becomes with those teeny triangles from Daily Charme! And of course the formula is amazing. If you are looking for a good black here it is on a silver platter, my friends. I bet it stamps beautifully, too.

Zoya Haven
Accent from Daily Charme

Lastly is Zoya Haven, a "true holiday plum liquid metal." That description just tickled me haha, but I would add that there is a blackened element to it. It looks like an ember, glowing from within. I have Zoya's Get Even underneath with two easy coats and Zoya's Armor, the lil bow is from Daily Charme. Haven has a super-shiny metallic finish without brushstrokes. This is a color I consider a staple in any polish collection, because sometimes you just want to feel glamorous! If these types of polishes are your jam it's a must-have.

So once I put my holiday collection expectations aside, I was alright with these. A stamper, a staple, and something glamorous--I'll take it! I will have the three PixieDusts on Thursday and they really do round out the collection. What are your thoughts so far?

Edited to Add: See Part 2 here!

Products:
Zoya Wishes Collection
Daily Charme

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Christmas Trio Giveaway!

Purchased By Shelby Lou 

I love Christmas and I wanted to give away a little something seasonal this year! Whether you celebrate Christmas or another holiday, you are welcome to enter and celebrate the spirit of the season. Starting NOW enter to win a Christmas Trio!

Sinful Colors Prosecco

KBShimmer Holly Back Girl

Different Dimension Ho3

All of these items I purchased myself. I got lucky and came across a second bottle of Prosecco over a month ago, so I snagged that to give away. I kind of made two huge orders with KBShimmer in Novemeber, so this is the second "free" bottle of Holly Back Girl I received (but I needed all those soaps AND all their cremes....). Lastly, Ho3 is from the Llarowe A Box, Indied that I subscribe to and just received.

Must be 18 years or older to enter. Must have a US address to ship prize to. See terms and conditions for more information. Thank you all and Merry Christmas! Or Merry Polish ;-)

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Have you loved your cuticles today?