Sally Hansen Gilded Lily

"Picture it...Sicily 1923.." Just kidding. If you did get that Golden Girls reference you and I would make great friends :).  Back to what I was saying. Picture it, you're at a store like Target or Walmart, and you've done your weekly grocery shopping. When you're done getting your groceries you can't help but take a quick glance at the nail polishes in the cosmetic section. That's when you spot it. You found a pretty nail polish. You don't necessarily need it at the moment, but the fact you're spending money on groceries anyways gives you permission to add just an extra 7 or so bucks to the tab. 

Have you been in that position? I was last weekend. I spotted the end cap of some fall polishes at Target. I saw they had those Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Prabal Gurung Fall Fashion Week colors. To be honest, most were drab and boring, but then there was this glistening shimmering pretty called Gilded Lily that I figured "What the heck?", and threw it in along with my zucchini, Cheerios, and deli sliced turkey meat. I'm glad I did. 

Gilded Lily

Gilded Lily is a dense mixture of warm gold and copper glitter flecks in a clear base. 

I'm not sure what the correct term for the type of material this is in it. It's not really a glitter like how we'd think of a glitter. It's not a flakie. You know the glass fleck stuff in some polishes? It's like that but with out a base color. So, I'm calling them flecks. Whatever it is, it is gorgeous. You know when the sun hits water and creates that golden scattered effect? This is that in a bottle. It's very easy to build too. This was 3 coats, and if you look closely you can kind of see my nail showing through, but I only noticed that in the photo. In person, it's so shimmery and blingy you can't see your nail at all. This is a beautiful polish. I definitely recommend you check this one out. 

Happy Thursday! 

All That Glitters Princess Collection

I have an awesome super glittery collection to share with you today! This is All That Glitters Princess Collection. I love a great glitter, and I love princesses. I'm a 5 year old at heart, and have no qualms about wearing princess crowns to Disney World and taking pictures with princesses. Needless to say, this is a collection I was very excited about!

I am using All That Glitters' descriptions on these polishes, she can describe her own polishes better than me!  You can get fuller coverage with these within around 3 coats, but I prefer to layer them over a base because it adds depth and uses less coats of polish.

L-R:
Glitteriest of Them All, Be Home by Midnight, Arose From a Sleep, Fins for Feet, Book Smart Beauty, Not a Prize to be Won, and Kissing on a Frog.

Glitteriest of Them All over Revlon Raven Red

Glitteriest of Them All has a deep red base with 7 multi-colored glitters scattered throughout in various sizes and colors to represent some little men Glittieriest Of Them All lived with.

Be Home by Midnight over Revlon Dreamer

Be Home By Midnight has a light blue base and is mixed with chunks of a glass slipper; I mean silver holo, baby blue and perwinkle in various shapes and sizes.

Arose From a Sleep over Orly Lollipop

Arose From a Sleep has a pink/blue duo colored base with multiple pink, fuchsia and periwinkle glitters in various shapes and sizes. 

Fins for Feet over Zoya Bevin

Fins for Feet has a blue/green duo colored base with tons of various blues/aquas/teals/periwinkle glitters as well as some green and purples. A little red glitter thrown in for good measure to match this Princess' hair.

Book Smart Beauty over Orly Artificial Sweetener

Book Smart Beauty has a pink/gold duo colored base with multiple pink and holo gold glitters in various shapes and sizes.

Not a Prize to be Won over Nails Inc. Baker St.

Not a Prize to Be Won is a rebellious Princess polish and has a light turquoise colored base with different turquoises and purples glitters in different shapes, colors and sizes.

Kissing on a Frog over Zoya Bevin

Kissing on a Frog as a green/yellow duo colored base with sea green, periwinkle, turquoise, blues and greens mixed in various colors, shapes and sizes.

These are beautiful glitters. I love how each of them matches perfectly to the princess in mind. That being said, they are creative and unpredictable. The combination of the colors, varying sizes of glitters, and the addition of duo colored bases really make these polishes special. I like the added touches in these because it shows how thoughtful Kirsten from All That Glitters was when creating these polishes. It is a very well conceived collection. The only thing I noticed was that some of the formulations were thicker than others, however I think this is to be expected with polishes that are this glittery. They were still very workable and applied well to the nail. I approve of this collection!

All That Glitters next restock will be September 5th at 8pm PST on her etsy page. These polishes can be purchased individually or you can buy the whole collection. You can see more photos of this collection and get restock updates on All That Glitters Facebook page.

* I received these polishes to review by All That Glitters

Happy Wednesday!

Sinful Colors Rain Storm

I'm done! Goodbye summer brights and neons! In my world summer is officially over,and I'm tired of wearing summer colors. I just want to get cozy with my deep, muted, and vampy shades. I missed them. I'm odd and tend to not like to wear fall-winter shades in spring-summer and vice versa. I don't know. I like to match the season (says the person who is declaring summer over early and who lives in Florida which the seasons of hot and hotter). Anyways, my nutty contradictions aside, I am really for fall colors. I kicked of my fall with Sinful Colors Rain Storm. I think it's a good transition color not too dark..not to light..but just right!

Rain Storm

Rain Storm is muted dusty blue creme.

I am in love with this color. It's exactly what I wanted right now, and I don't have any other blues like it, at least in my collection. The formula on this was excellent. You could get away with one coat if you wanted. It was smooth and applied evenly. I'm very impressed with this formula on a $2 polish. I approve!

Happy Tuesday!

Share With You Sunday: 8/19/12-8/26/12

Posts I'm Loving:
Shelby Swatches shows us her bubble dotting manicure.
Polishy of Truth swatches Oopsie Daisies Banana Split.
Did My Nails shows us her glitter sandwich nails.
Amber did it! shares with us her Lisa Frank nail art.
Polished Claws Up swatches Revlon Streetwear Jewels.

Posts You're Loving:
Pixie Dust Nails shares with us her Epic Mickey nails.
Lacquer of Leave Her! shows us her Gamer Geek Chic nails.
The Crumpet shares with us her fruit salad nails.
Geeky Owl shows us her guest post on Mandy's Polish.
Polish all day, all night shares with us her neon rainbow nail art.

You can submit your links for posts on Sundays here. 

Reader Manis of the Week:

Name: Saima
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Manicure Description: freehand nail art with two coats of Zoya "Purity", acrylic navy stripes freehanded and a half moon in OPI "Wooden Shoe Like to Know" and my accent nail rhombus is in Orly "Luxe."
Favorite Polishes: emmmm... Cult Nails "Time Traveller" China Glaze "Ruby Pumps" Color Club "Gingerbread" A England "St George"
Blog: http://saimassalon.blogspot.co.uk 
Instagram: @saimassalon

I need manis for September! You can find information on how to submit your manicures for Sunday posts here. 

Happy Sunday!

Spontaneous Saturday: Netflix Has Cost Me Sleep

There are times I spend so much time looking for something to watch on Netflix that I could of watched an entire movie by time I've browsed through almost every section. It's hard for me to really choose something to watch, sometimes I literally close my eyes and just pick something. That's what I did with this show...

and now it's costing me sleep because I am obsessed and completely hooked. I'll be watching this into the wee hours of the morning or any free moment I have. I can't stop! I'm up to season 2 episode 15 now in a little over 2 weeks. Yeah, that's a lot of TV. 

I've seen previews for this show and blew it off. Sure, it's over-dramatic, obviously very fictionalized, cliche, and meant for teenage girls, but I love it! 

Soon, I'll be left with this problem...

This will be disappointing, I really love watching episodes one after the other on Netflix. All the cliffhangers get picked up in minutes rather than a whole week...exactly first world problem. I'll live though!

Anyone else like this show? NO SPOILERS! What other shows can you recommend that are similar to this? 

Cover Band Sticks n' Stones

I'm pretty sure since we started seeing the matte black and white glitters everyone needed to have a version. I did! It's really a unique glitter as far as nail polish goes, and I'm glad that it now has a place in the nail polish world. I went for Cover Band's Sticks n' Stones as my pick for a black and white glitter. There are lots polishes like this out there, and each one has its own special touch.

Cover Band Sticks n' Stones over Layla Mercury Twilight

Sticks n' Stones is a mixture of varying sizes and shapes of black and white glitter in a clear base.

I've heard there is some slight iridescent shimmer in this. Personally, I really couldn't see it, and it didn't translate on the nail. Mind you, I did layer this over a holographic polish, so that could be my fault. I like this glitter. It filled my need for a black and white glitter. I love the use of different shapes and sizes with this glitter. I do not have any other glitters like this to compare it to, but that's only because I'm content with this one! I ordered Sticks n' Stones from Ninja Polish for $9.00.

Happy Friday!

Amy's Nail Boutique: Cotton Candy

I'm back! Well, I wasn't really gone, but this is the first time in a week I've been on my computer for longer than 20 minutes. My parents visit was great, but I am sad that they have left now :(. I am so out of loop in what is going on with nail polish and the blog-o-sphere. Fill me in?

Anyways, I have a pretty indie for you today from Amy's Nail Boutique.

Cotton Candy over Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac

Cotton Candy is a mixture of small matte pink and blue glitters in a clear base.

I love this glitter. I've seen layered over quite a few different colors and it is amazing. This polish was easy to work with, and Amy's Nail Boutique ships very quickly. I've ordered from her twice, and I got my polishes within a few days of ordering. I haven't shared other polishes with you I ordered from Amy's Nail Boutique, but so far I'm very impressed with this indie polish maker!

Happy Thursday!

L'Oreal Brit Invasion

When I first heard about L'Oreal's London Fall collection I knew I had to find it. Anything relating to London/England/British/UK sparks my interest. When I saw the collection in person I was a bit disappointed. They had cute enticing names, but a lot of the colors were not new to me. I ended up passing on all of them except one Brit Invasion.

Brit Invasion

Brit Invasion is a taupe (that leans towards purple) with a golden shimmer.

I really like this color on its own, but maybe not so much on me. I have issues with taupes, they don't tend to look great on my skin tone. This one is a little more forgiving as it leans towards purple versus browns unlike other taupes I've tried. That being said, the formula and brush on this polish were not my favorite. I'm not sure if it's the brush that's the problem or the formula, maybe it's both!  I've had this issue with other L'Oreal polishes too. I don't know how to describe it other than the brush seems to have way too many bristles and it soaks it up too much polish. It makes the polish apply dry and streaky. I'm sure that made no sense. I'm sure a not great brush and formula would of sufficed, but I had to try to explain! Nice color, not so nice everything else sadly.

Happy Tuesday!

Cult Nails Gold Flakes

I am so psyched that gold flakes are mainstream now. I've been dying for gold flakes forever. It's been kind of my dream to put together a blue with gold flake polish look. I absolutely drool over blue and gold together. It really is my favorite color combination out there. I got my hands on the Cult Nail gold flakes she has now and I made my polish dreams come true!

Cult Nails Gold Flakes over Orly Royal Navy

Cult Nails Gold Flakes are well...gold flakes!

The gold flakes come in a tiny little vial that is 1 inch in height. The amount you get looks very small, but fear not these go a long way. I barely made a dent in my bottle with what I have on my nails here. I had no method to my madness. I'm not a nail artist. I just poured a teeny tiny bit onto a piece of paper and dabbed them on with my finger onto semi-wet polish. Viola! It's probably not the most dainty way to apply these, but it worked. I love the look of these.  They do not lay completely flat, and do have a bit of a 3D effect which is really cool. No worries, they stay on fine with layer of top coat. You know what I'm channeling here? Hearst Castle's Roman Pool with the cobalt blue tiles and gold. Heaven. Swoon. Polish perfection. I'm calling it a day!

I got these on Cult Nail's site for $5.00.

Happy Monday!

Share With You Sunday: 8/5/12-8/19/12

As you can see from the dates above I'm making up for last week too with this post. I skipped out on a link share last week, so I could show you the rest of the Olympic manis!

Posts I'm Loving:
Sincerely, Obsessed With Polish shows us her koi fish nail art.
Nailed It shares with us her her Electric Feel nails.
Nail Naracotics! show us her Bubble Gum Bubble nails.
Tips and Topcoat shares with us her Lady and the Tramp nails.
Marias Nail Art and Polish Blog shows us her Hiding in Neons nails.
niftyBA shares with us her Saran Wrap nails.
Neverland Nail Blog shows us her Abstract Freehand Loops nails.
Frazzle and Aniploish shows us the mid-August nail polish displays.

Posts You're Loving:
polish cart shares with us her Underwater Treasure nails
The Lacquered Lady swatches OPI Danke-Shiny Red.
Passion for Polish shows us her Zoya Gradient nails.

You can submit your links for posts on Sundays here. 

Reader Manis of the Week:

Name: Jen
Location: Sydney, Australia
Manicure Description: This manicure was inspired by a cosmetics bag that one of my best friends gave to me (full of polish!) for my birthday this year that you can see in this photo. I started with a base of NOPI Call Me Classy and then sponged on a gradient using NOPI Call Me Classy and Ulta3 Orchid. Next up I stamped on a flowery design from BundleMonster plate BM-321 - I tried using two colours (OPI Dim Sum Plum and NOPI Call Me Classy) to make it more opaque but it didn't work out quite as well as I hope. I then finished it off with some white stars from BundleMonster plate BM-202. I love how it turned out, as soon as I saw the cosmetics bag I knew I had to try it out as a manicure and it looks fantastic!
Favorite Polishes: Color Club Wild At Heart, A England St George, Cult Nails Let Me Fly, OPI Skull and Glossbones, China Glaze FYI
Blog:  http://thenailpolishproject.com

Name: Olivia Frescura
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Manicure Descrption: I wanted to do an Olympics manicure for the blog so I grabbed the new Essie Mirror Metallics collection and used nail striping tape (lazy and just left my bare nail underneath) and did a pseudo "laser" manicure using gold (good as gold), silver (no place like chrome), and bronze/rose gold (everyone's new favorite- penny talk!). I thought it turned out pretty well!
Favorite Polishes: China Glaze Re-fresh mint, Julie G 9 to 5, POP Beauty Tangerine Taste Color Club Koo Koo Ka Choo! I rarely wear polishes more than once, though...millions of untrieds (#bblogger "problems")! Your blog/tumblr/instagram if you have one:
Blog: http://www.oliviafrescura.com
Post with this mani: http://www.oliviafrescura.com/2012/08/06/olympic-medal-inspired-nails-featuring-essie-mirror-metallics/

I need manis for next Sunday and for September! You can find information on how to submit your manicures for Sunday posts here. 

Happy Sunday!

Spontaneous Saturday: Pretty Little Bottles Guest Post

Hello! Today, I have a post from one of my friends Alyssa. She's a blogger here in Central Florida, and we've become great friends! Her blog is Pretty Little Bottles. She has an awesome blog with great nail art and tutorials! 

Hey Everyone!

 

Steph asked me a few days ago if I'd like to do a guest post for her and, of course, I jumped at the opportunity! I decided to come up with some simple, yet awesome, nail art to show you guys!

 

Around the same time that Steph asked me about the post, I had just recieved my Ninja Polish purchase which included the coveted Floam! I instantly felt inspired and decided that my mani would have to somehow include Floam!

 

Here's what I came up with:

 

 

Polishes used:

China Glaze Splish Splash (blue)

China Glaze I'm With the Lifeguard (green)

China Glaze Sun-Kissed (yellow)

Nail Venturous Floam

 

How I achieved this look:

 

Thumb & Ring finger: I first applied one coat of I'm With the Lifeguard and then two coats of Floam

 

Index Finger: To avoid having to paint lots of coats, I did one coat of a plain white creme first and then did two coats of Splish Splash

 

Pinky: One coat of plain white creme and then two coats of Sun-Kissed

 

Middle Finger: In order to achieve the chevron look, I used striping tape to tape off the sections of the nail in the design I wanted. I started at the cuticle of the nail and painted the green on my entire nail, minus the part that was taped off (just one coat) and peeled the tape off before it dried. I continued going down the nail with each color! It was so simple and the striping tape gave me nice, clean lines!

 

I hope you all have enjoyed the nail art that I've done for you guys today! Thanks for reading! And, again, thanks Steph for asking me to do a post for your wonderful blog! :)

Thank you Alyssa for doing such a great guest post for me!

Happy Saturday!

3 Colors from KBShimmer's Fall Collection

I have some cool up-and-coming indie polishes for you today by KBShimmer. These will be a part of her fall collection that will be available on September 1st. I'm loving the shades I got to review for you guys. I think you'll like them too!

Toucan Touch This

Toucan Touch This is a lemon-lime jelly mixed with varying sizes of gold, green, teal, blue, and orange hex glitters with matching micro bar glitters.

No Whine Left

No Whine Left is plum base mixed with varying sizes of blue, fuchsia, and purple glitters.

Jack over a black creme

Jack is a black jelly base with varying sizes of orange hex glitters and micro bar orange glitters.

These glitters are very playful, whimsical, and fun. I love how inventive the color combinations are. Toucan Touch This is like no other polish I own. I love the vibrancy of the base and how the colorful glitters pack that extra punch. I like the warm tone of the plum base in No Whine Left and how the bright cool blue of the glitter compliments it. It's really is an unpredictable combination of colors that surprised me. Jack is the perfect color for Halloween. I don't have to worry about what I'm going to be wearing on my nails for Halloween now! I love the varying sizes of glitter in Jack. It gives the polish depth and contrast. Overall, I'm very pleased with these. KBShimmer knows what she's doing!

You will be able to purchase these along with the 5 other shades from the fall collection on September 1st on KBShimmer's website. You can find out more information on these polishes and follow updates on KBShimmer on her Facebook page.

*These polishes were provided to me for my honest review by KBShimmer.

Happy Friday!

Hits Phenomena: Air Glow

I mentioned in one of my previous posts that I avoided the Brazilian polishes for awhile. The reason was I loved them all so much I knew one would not suffice. I decided I'd wait around until my birthday and do a little haul of them. This is one of them I picked up last month. It's one of the Hits Phenomena polishes, and it's pretty spectacular.

Air Glow over Milani Black Swift

Air Glow is a multichromatic glitter that flashes pink, orange, copper and gold. 

This is a stunner people. I've seen some multichrome and duochrome polishes out there that you really cannot see there effect unless you are in certain lightning. This is not the case for Air Glow. This pretty shows all of its colors in any lighting. It is beautiful. This polish is definitely meant to be layered. I really would recommend you layer it over dark colors, it will bring out the depth of all the colors the best. 

I got this one on Ninja Polish. 

Happy Thursday!

Orly Preamp

I'm very excited today. My parents are coming in town tonight and staying through Tuesday. I can't wait. I haven't seen them in 5 months! I'm going to be having some scheduled posts while they're here, so if I seem a little MIA that's why, but I'll still be around..somewhat.

On to polish!

It's been a long time since I've come across a polish from one of the mainstream brands I instantly saw and knew I had to have. I had this happen with Orly Preamp though. The instant I saw swatches of it, I knew it had to be mine. It's kind of stinky I'm not having this happen with more polishes from our tried and true brands, but on the other the hand I'm saving money. Orly Preamp is definitely a nice surprise.

Preamp

Preamp is a cool toned pink with a golden glass fleck shimmer.

-Swoon- I love this. It is totally unexpected and unpredictable. This color with that type of finish is beautiful. It looks glowly and shimmery. It makes this polish addict very happy. This was part of the Electronica collection, and to be quite honest the only polish worth getting. I'd even go as far to say it's a must have in my book especially if you like shades like this.

Happy Wednesday!

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri: Cinna-snap

I love CVS. I don't go as often as I used to, but when I do I'm always welcomed with some great coupons from the ExtraCare coupon machine. If you don't have a CVS ExtraCare card you have to go one. I deem it mandatory, and I will be checking in with you all later. Just playing, but really there is no reason not to get one. I get great coupons from them, plus I get Extrabucks to spend. One of the recent coupons I got was $3 off an Sally Hansen nail product. I wasn't going to pass that one up! This is what I brought home.

Cinna-snap

Cinna-snap is a deep red jelly.

I was craving a deeper shade, especially one that was quickly and easy to apply. Sally Hansen Insta-Dris are perfect for this. I'm not a huge fan of the brush, but it applies more evenly and easier than other deep red jellies I have. This clearly isn't a unique color, but I think it's a classic shade that no matter the brand every nail gal should have! 

Happy Tuesday!