Last Week's Untrieds!

Gotta make up for lost time today, folks! Here's a few untried cremes to make up for my absence last week (sorry about that!). Don't forget - my comment giveaway ends this week so get your comments in on these last few posts to up your chances. I think I'll continue this tradition next month! What would you guys like to see for prizes?

Anywho... gonna give you three manis today because I way overshot my goal of creme untrieds one swatching day and I'm making up for lost time.

Sation Drama Doll is the pink below. It was brighter in person but not quite neon since you can see below it dries shiny. This is three coats and it was streaky and took forrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeevvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr to dry. I'll still use it again because I love pink.

Then you know me... step one: paint on a creme, step two: add glitter. This is OPI Lights of Emerald City from the new Oz collection. This was two coats as the glitter is fairly sparse on its own.

Next I tried Sally Hansen Wet Cement which my BFF Amanda sent me. This covered easily in two coats though it could have used a third and was a little thin for a normal creme. I fixed that...

 ...with glitter! Below is Black Cat Lacquer The Dream of the 90s Is Alive, which is a gray based crelly with a whole bunch of colors and black shapes. I like the sizes of glitter in this one because they're pretty consistent. Sometimes when a glitter has varying/huge shapes it makes it hard to manage all of the glitters on the brush. This was a dream to apply, one coat applied like normal polish and then I dabbed some glitter on some places/added a second coat if needed.

Finally, Julep Michelle. This is two coats of absolute blue perfection. Sorry the flash is incredibly bright on my skin and I look vampiric. I guess my camera can't handle the dark colors on me... but it's pretty color accurate, a little more navy IRL.

Then I added Cirque XX which Amanda sent me in a secret Cupid exchange and OMG AMANDA I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. This is absolute glitter perfection. Love at first sight applies here. This was one coat, it was absolutely packed with glitter which is good because I never ever want to run out of this. Ever. *snuggles bottle*

So there you go, enjoy the rest of your weekend!

xoxo,
Amanda

Northern Star Polishes!

Hi everyone! Today I'm back in the reviewing saddle again as Kristin from Northern Star Polish was kind enough to send me several of her products to review.

First up is Valentine Schmalentine, which was my favorite of the bunch! This is a light gray base with pink and black shreds and microglitters. I applied this over a complementary gray creme to conserve it, and this is one coat. The glitter payoff was pretty good, considering this was just one coat without pushing or fishing around. I really liked this!

Next is  Mistletoe at Midnight over Nicole by OPI Daffy Dill. This was really fine chartreuse (I think that's the best color description?!) glitter with some larger hexes. The glitter payoff on this was excellent, as you can see below it basically covered 100% for a glitter in one coat. I bet it could be layered to wear alone but it'd take several coats and you are probably better off doing it over a complementary shade. This isn't my usual choice in color but it was absolutely unique and really easy to work with!

I also was sent a sample of Lenore, which is primarily purple, so it's right up my alley! This has purple shreds and hexes in purple, black, silver, and I think some yellow. I used two coats over OPI French Quarter for Your Thoughts. This is two coats with some pushing around, but really pretty effortless as far as chunky glitters go! I really liked this and can see myself using it around Halloween, possibly over orange!

Kristin also sent me a sample of her Dark Chocolate cuticle oil, which I didn't photograph because I didn't know if you guys wanted to see my cuticles all oiled up haha! It smelled spot on to dark chocolate, so if you're a sweets fan it's perfect for you. It absolutely reminded me of Valentine's Day and the scent wasn't too strong. I'm not sure 100% on how I feel about my fingers smelling like chocolate, but mostly because I'm on a diet and it's pretty tempting... ;)

What did you think? Northern Star Polish is available on Etsy for $6 for a 9mL mini and $9 for a full size 15mL bottle.  All her polishes are B3F and I see she's now offering flat rate shipping for $3 per order which is a fantastic deal!

xoxo,
Amanda

Belated Untrieds Challenge

Hey everyone... I think Madeline is done with untrieds so Amanda and I are returning with January untrieds, which we decided is brands we only have one untried bottle of!Since I never posted on Tuesday... or Thursday... you get two today!

This is a polish I got from Dolores long, long ago but haven't tried until now. It's a fairly weak linear holo but holo nonetheless! This is two coats of Magnetic Shimmering Titanium. Application was really easy

There you have it, hope you enjoyed this sparkly Sunday post!

xoxo,
Amanda

MyWholesaleFashion.com: Santee

Hello again! Somebody's got a case of the Mondays ;) We're inching closer and closer to the holidays (Hanukkah just began a couple days ago, so Happy Hanukkah for those who celebrate!) and I'm realizing just how unprepared I am this year! Oops!

Today is my final installment of reviews for MyWholesaleFashion.com. It was really fun reviewing for them and I can say for sure their customer service was quick and easy.

In today's review you will see one of the bottles was damaged in shipping. Please note that this isn't common with their shipping method, but that their polishes are usually packaged in 6 and when they separated them for reviews, they didn't wrap as they usually would have for protection. I specifically asked about this when I received mine and David from My Wholesale Fashion assured me this was unusual and he'd pass the message along to their shipping department for future reference. All my polishes were still useable so it wasn't really a problem anyway.

Anyway! The final brand is Santee which is one I had seen on eBay but never ordered. The colors I picked were Flame Heart, Love Season (which is the sparkly pink topcoat in the final picture), Beach Blue, Aqua, and Perfect Silver.

 Here's two coats of the cremes, no top coat. I really think blue and gray go well together and this would make such a perfect combo for an accent nail mani!

And here is Love Season (such a cute name btw) over Flame Heart.

Finally, the list of ingredients, again, not B3F but this one didn't seem to smell very much which is either because it was the last one I swatched or maybe it just doesn't smell very chemically ;) 

There you have it! What do you think of My Wholesale Fashion? I'm definitely interested in some of the jewelry and things they have too, especially since they seem to be really trendy (I spy lots of owls and mustaches!) Have you bought anything? Do you plan to? Let me know what you thought of the brands!

xoxo,
Amanda

Breaking Dawn Nails!

Hey ladies and gents! I have a twinsie post today with Ryan for Twilight's final installment coming out. (PS Rycobra is formerly Naild In The South, so if you haven't found her new blog name go follow now!) Ryan already posted hers for the premiere on Thursday but I was working and had a concert I wanted to do my nails for, so my nails were done this evening and are on right now, which is rare for me! I'm thinking I'll probably go see it the first time (yes, I'll go multiple times) this morning, which hopefully won't be too hectic!

I actually only have one photograph of this because I felt like it did well demonstrating it on its own and you didn't need 15 pictures to get the gist ;) On my thumb, pointer, and pinky I applied China Glaze Elephant Walk and then Candy Lacquer Chick Flick (fitting, huh?) on top. Then on my middle and ring I used OPI Strawberry Margarita and RLR Creations water decals on top.

I wanted this to be Twilight but not the typical vampire fare, so I went with pink and gray for a toned-down version of the usual red and black, and I really liked the outcome. The decals were pretty easy to work with but they took some patience and I was a bit bummed the white didn't show on the chess piece in front, but I think the point comes across. Hope you liked these, Twihards ;)

xoxo,
Amanda

Chick Nail Polish Gr8 Gray Owl + Lynnderella Happy Holo-daze!

Hey gals. I'm showing you a brand that's fairly new to me that I ordered from online: Chick Nail Polish. I'm a sucker for grays, so I'm showing you the gray polish, which is called Gr8 Gray Owl (although I don't know the reason for the Gr8 part?) Anyway, here's two coats of it alone:

And then I added two generous coats of Lynnderella Happy Holo-Daze! on top for some sparkle, and wore this for a Christmas mani :) (Yikes, I am REALLY far behind...)

And there you have it! I love my Lynnderellas like children. What do you guys think?

xoxo,
Amanda

Nails Inc Trafalgar Square (Magnetic)

Hey girls... I just realized my blogiversary is coming up! I'll be a blogger for one full year on the 5th of January. Hmm, not sure how I'll celebrate! Any ideas?

Anyway, today I have for you my very first magnetic polish (okay, that's not true - I have four Essence ones that I haven't tried yet because I was waiting for this magnet!). This is from the ever-famous Nails Inc line, and this is the gray one. My BFF got me this for Christmas and I'm IN LOVE :)

I started with two coats of the polish, then right after the second coat was applied, I held the magnet up. You could literally watch the magnet working! So cool. I went with a horizontal stripe pattern since it was my first time trying this out, and it came out really cool.

One of my clients even noticed and she told me local salons were charging $5 per nail to do magnetic nail polish! Boy, sometimes I think I have an expensive hobby, but when you look at it that way, I'm saving money! :)

xoxo,
Amanda

Halloween Part Two: Hits Zeus

Hey everyone! So, today I have a polish I'm going to classify as Halloween, but really it's only because: a) it's black and b) I was dying to wear it because it was holo :P I got Hits Zeus from llarowe and it's straight from Brazil! This beauty was $10 plus minimal shipping, and I also got Hera and Hestia, which I'll be showing soon!

Zeus is a gorgeous dark gray/blackened holo. I layered two coats over a layer of a black creme to conserve it, since the bottle is small (only 6 mL). However, it was totally worth it, in my opinion! Since I use polishes so infrequently (since I have so many), this is a perfect size for me, in all honesty: it's small enough that it doesn't take up a lot of room, it's enough that I will still probably never use it all, and it's perfection. Behold:

Zeus was a bugger to photograph, which I think is because it was a dark holo, but you can definitely see the sparkle and the linear holographic-ness, especially in that bottle! *drools* Now I'm off, it's my Halloween party tonight and I'm so excited! I'll be showing you guys my costume nails, but would you be interested in seeing my makeup too?

xoxo,
Amanda

Boyfriend's Pick: Ulta Scene Steel-er and China Glaze Harmony

Hi ladies (and gents, possibly!) How is everyone doing today? It's Monday which is normally okay for me, since I like my job, but I hate Tuesdays and therefore dread Mondays... are any of you like that? I'm enjoying today though because none of my clients are coming (boo, no money) but it's giving me plenty of time to stalk my fellow bloggers who are at Cosmoprof! (By the way, this post is apparently going to be centered since Blogger won't let me align it left)

Today I'll be showing you Ulta's Scene Steel-er, a gunmetal gray metallic polish. I absolutely love gray polishes. I love gray anything. I fell in love at first sight. It was a bit brushstrokey, but nothing too unbearable, so I wore it for a day on its own. I'm sure this polish would be great for stamping!

Then, my boyfriend helped me pick out a Bundle Monster plate and color to stamp. He has great taste and picked China Glaze Harmony and BM 210. It was subtle, but really pretty and inspired me to let him pick more manis! Sorry for my awkward finger placement, I wanted to show how subtle the stamping was but then you couldn't see it at all so my ring finger is up a little and my pinky kind of followed... it was a mess, but it did show what I wanted it to! haha



Does your significant other pick your polishes or manis? Do you like this idea? Should I make this a regular blog feature? Isn't he adorable? (Oh wait, ignore that last thought...)

xoxo,

Amanda

OPI Skull and Glossbones: Nail Fail?

Hello again! My 10am client canceled which gives me some time to post. Here I have my mani from a couple days ago, Skull and Glossbones from the OPI Pirates minis. I'm a huuuuge fan of gray and this was the cutest named polish, but it just wouldn't grow on me.

This is more of a greige than a gray, and it makes me look horribly washed out. In person, it was beige in some lighting and blah gray in others. I love Zoya Dove, so I was disappointed that this gray didn't work for me. My boyfriend complimented me on it, but then when I commented that it was boring, he agreed. I wanted to add something but couldn't decide what... oh! I know! A crackle, I can use one of the colored ones that I don't normally use! That'll fix it! I'll use Fault Line from China Glaze!



Wrong. This color combination could probably not be much worse, in my opinion. It makes it look like my purple polish is chipping to reveal nail fungus! (I assure you, I do not have nail fungus.) The purple crackle actually was pretty easy to use, even though a lot of people have complained about it. A few good shakes and it's good to go... although the cracking isn't very consistent. This mani lasted, oh, about ten minutes before my nail polish remover got the best of it.

So what do you think? Am I being a diva or is this polish really as terrible on me as I believe?

China Glaze Crackle!

Hello again! As you can see, I use the weekends to catch up and this long weekend was perfect because I got China Glaze Crackles in and I couldn't WAIT to show you guys! I swatched each shade (yes, I got all 6) on a nail wheel over two different colors to show some diversity of what you can do and I think I was inspired for my next mani!

First up are the three "basic" colors: white (Lightning Bolt), gray (Cracked Concrete - whoops, called it Cracked Pavement in my last post!), and black (Black Mesh). I decided to show these over colors to highlight what they can do. Here they are over Petites Figi (for you researchers or people who had to take a research class, you might notice I used a "convenience sample" of my revently used polishes for these swatches).

Secondly, I layered them all over Revlon Rock. (Sorry, the right side is coming out dark for some reason. It looks fine on my camera but on my computer they came out dark?)

Next I used the three colored crackles: pink (Broken Hearted), blue (Crushed Candy), and purple (Fault Line). The first picture shows them layered over Finger Paints Easel Come, Easel Go, a really nice, bright silver:

And in other strange things my computer is doing news, this picture is rotated and I can't get it back... mostly because Blogspot tilted it so I can't fix it! But anyway, here they are over Sinful Colors Show Me White.

So what do you guys think? I personally love them, but know they aren't for everybody or every setting. I'm going to wear them today to play around with and maybe when I'm in class but they will have to come off for work! Which ones did you like most, which color combinations worked best, and are you getting this collection?

xoxo,

Amanda