The Age of...

aquarius


Here comes another gorgeous glitter for you to drool over!! This one I'm especially in love with because...it's Aquarius and so is yours truly! :)  It's also a fabulous combination of deep blue and purple glitter.  There's a bit of a turquoise shift in there but the overall effect is a deep purple/blue.  What better to pair this amazing glitter with than Lime Crime's Lavendairy!  Lavendairy is from their Les Desserts de Antoinette polish line which I reviewed for you awhile back.  I'm still in love with them and use them quite frequently! I can't wait for summer because the bright pastel colors will be perfect for pool days! Anyway, on to the nails....



Lavendairy is not as pink as this looks on my screen but it's really hard to photograph these! It definitely has a pink undertone though. :)  So sparkly. I used a coat of Gelous this time before I applied my topcoat and it seemed to keep the glitter flat and shiny.  You can pick up Aquarius on LimeCrimeCosmetics.com. Trust me, you won't regret it!


These products were sent to me for my honest review. I have not been paid for my opinion.

Watercolor my world...

art


Day two of the Digit-al Dozen art challenge is here! Today's inspiration was water color.  I used to really love using watercolors as a child and I still love the soft, sheer quality they have about them.  I used a new technique for this challenge and I'm considering making a tutorial for it since it's super easy and the effect looks really intricate.  I used a creamy base coat to sort of represent a canvas and then I used a fan brush to make patterns on the top.  A few days after I had this on I decided to add some glitter and it looked pretty amazing but then it started peeling off in sheets. Fail.  I think the glitter with the Gelous with the top coat with all the layers already on just became too thick.  I'll definitely be revisiting this technique so maybe next time I'll get it to work! Don't forget to check out the other girls art inspired mani's for today!




Lime Crime: Milky Ways
Color Club: Poptastic, Chelsea Girl and Pucci-licious

All that glitters is...GLITTER

Glitter


I have some gorgeous, gorgeous things to show you this week.  They are glitters. They are complex. They are stunning.  They are not polish.  But in a way, they're better than polish because I can use them in millions of creative ways and also on my face! There's really nothing better than a little glitter!  I have several of these to show you but today I'm starting with this one.  It's called Scorpio and it's from the new line of Zodiac glitters from Lime Crime Cosmetics.  The thing I love most about Lime Crime (other than the super packaging and whimsical colors!) is that they are a mostly vegan and cruelty free company (their primer contains beeswax).  Something that I'm really trying to stay on track with this year is going to vegan branded polishes and it's a wonderful thing to be able to go to a site, order whatever you like, and not have to peruse every ingredient to see if it's OK or not.  Anyway onto the important stuff!  Scorpio, as you can see above, is a black glitter with holographic particles throughout.  It has a very dark but fantastical feel to it and even though I'm so OVER the holo trend I was really drawn to this one.  The packaging is lovely too.  Here's the box they come in:


Then the bottom of the glitter containers show the color and the symbol for the zodiac sign:



Pretty, no?  I love how luxe the packaging looks.  It's all golden and delicately patterned. Gorgeous.  Anyway I decided what better way to use it than with my Lime Crime polishes?  So I mixed it with some top coat and did a gradient over Once in A Blue Mousse.



It could have used one more coat of Seche Vite. These glitters are pretty hungry but that's standard fare for a glitter. This is also gorgeous used on the eyes! :) What do you think?


These glitters were sent to me for my honest review. You can purchase them at LimeCrimeMakeUp.com.

The Digit-al Dozen does...art

body art

It's time for another week of Digit-al Dozen art!! This week the challenge was...art!  I based my designs for the week on types of art, rather than recreating famous art work or trying to do anything super intricate.  I'm not a great real life artist!  These nails are based on body art, or tattoo's!  I wanted to choose images that were fairly common in the world of tattoo artistry so I chose flowers, feathers, birds, hearts, tribal, stars, Chinese characters and some swirly designs.  I used a nude color for the base and then matted the whole thing for a more 'skin' like appearance.  :)  I hope you can see the inspiration!  Don't forget to check what the other girls came up with for today's challenge, and stay tuned this week for more art inspired posts!


Colors used:
Zoya Avery

Hard Candy The End
butterLONDON Matte Top Coat

Use it or lose it...

blog sale


This has been my life for the past oh...week and a half or so.  Polish sorting.  I HATE polish sorting. I also love polish sorting because I find all sorts of great things I had forgotten I had.  I also find out things like I have three of the same exact color. Fail.  The thing is, even with a spreadsheet it's still hard to keep track of nearly 1,000 polishes. Not only that but it's frankly overwhelming.  Many of these I have never used.  Many of them I WILL never use.  Others I use all the time.  On the whole I find myself reaching for the same colors most of the time.  I'm not sure if that's because those colors are the ones I remember I have most often, because they're my favorites, or just because they're already out of the helmer which means no digging!  So I have laid down some new rules for 2013.  If I don't, haven't and won't use a polish...it's out.  Already I have listed quite a few on my blog sale page.  Most of them are polishes I've never used once or those that I used once and didn't care for or didn't go back to for whatever reason.  You can HELP ME!! Help me get rid of all these polishes I'm not using and give them good homes. :)  My goal is to get to ONE helmer (God help me) and then to maintain that helmer.  No new ones til old ones are out.  I'm not sure how well I'll be able to stick to that...I already have quite a few pretties coming in the mail.  But here's hoping! 

Do you have an overwhelming stash?

Go Scratch It: The Evil Eye

evil eye

Today I have a review for you!  This is a company who was once a Kickstart* so I'm extra excited to share it with you all! I don't use nail wraps often, to be perfectly honest.  They're great when you're in a hurry or for intricate designs that you might not otherwise be able to achieve on your own. I just find the quality and ease of application to be hit or miss.  I first tried the Sally Hansen ones and was very pleased with how easily they applied and how long they lasted.  I was not so pleased with the cost and the fact that once you open the pack you have to use every wrap or they'll dry up and be useless.  Then I tried the Nail Rock and Essence strips.  Turns out they're just stickers and not polish at all. Major fail. Not only do they not look great but they're ridiculous to remove.  So I was skeptical, as I always am, when these showed up in the mail.  One thing I love about them is the way they're packaged.

 

They're all sealed in a little plastic bag.  BUT it gets better because when you open the pack they're all nestled in they're actually individually sandwiched between two additional layers of plastic. While I'm not 100% sure that this will help preserve them longer, they've been sitting in a drawer for a week now and they're all still pliable and ready to go so I have a feeling it will help a lot.  It also makes it super easy to match them up to your fingers and apply them one at a time.  I applied mine without first buffing and without base coat. I washed four sinkfuls of dishes directly after and had zero lifts or wear. With top coat they lasted a full week on me before the tips started to wear.  That's excellent considering most regular polishes only make it four days.  I was sort of disappointed with the shapes.  I feel like some are too narrow and some are way too square (like the first one you see up there).  But I can see how it might benefit people with wider nails and they can be easily trimmed down if needed. This pattern is not even close to being the coolest one they have available so I really encourage you to check out what she has to offer on the site.  Here is one on my nail!


I used Barry M Navy on my fingers and the Evil Eye strip on my accent nail.  You can see that it's shiny and looks just like the polish.  No lifts or weird flaps like I've seen with other strips. There are seriously some awesome patterns available on the site and $12 gets you 16 strips, a nail file and an orange stick for easy application.  I really encourage those of you who like the ease of strips (and those of you who have had bad luck with previous ones) to check these out!! I'm eying the Rococo Gold ones next!!

Buy your own set at: GoScratchIt.com.





*Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative products.  You can visit the site and choose independant upcoming businesses or projects to support!  I'm a BIG supporter of helping small business and innovators so I love this site! Check it out and help out some local (or not so local!) creators!










 These were sent to me for my honest review. I have not been compensated for my opinion.

G is for Glitter All The Way

China Glaze


This year's holiday collections really didn't do much for me.  I have plenty of greens and reds and golds.  There were only two China Glaze's that I decided to pick up and one of them was only because my husband insisted.  This is the other. It's called Glitter All The Way.  It's a multi-glitter with bits of green, purple, red and gold.  It does have decent coverage; this is three coats.  It also dried pretty smoothly for such a concentrated polish.  This is two coats of top coat and no Gelous.  I don't really love the multi-glitter effect.  I just think this is too much in one bottle.  But if you're into multi glitters then this one has a great formula and is definitely worth the $$!

Thanks for following! Don't forget to check on what Emma and Kerrie chose for the letter "G".

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