Feeling a bit Glitzy

On this dreary warmer than usual day I feel the need to wear something with extra sparkle.  I chose Glitzology's Snow Day.  I love snow and I love iridescent sparkles.  It's a win win.

I took these shots a few days ago when I had sun at my disposal, when I look back on it, I should have done more than one set of swatches. It seems that we've entered a sad cloudy period right now.

This is two coats over Sacre Blurple. And look, a red glitter in the bottle.

I got this polish a couple months ago.  When I got it, the formula was a little thick.  So, after swatching it a few times I added a little thinner, and everything was great.  This polish is such a gorgeous little gem.  I can see white micro glitter, white bars, medium sized white hexes, small iridescent squares and then the pièce de résistance solorshifting shimmer.  I noticed that it went from blue to purple and in some uncapturable lights even a little pink.

I love the look of two light coats.  It looks like a blizzard on my nails.

I've ordered a few polishes from Glitzology and all of them have been the same amazing quality.  Loaded with glitter and easy to apply, even when they're a bit thick.

There, you can see some of the color shifting shimmer.

Now, for some more pictures!

Overall, this polish is pretty amazing and I think it would look even more blizzard like and even a little ethereal over white.  You can find Glitzology here. She usually have a great sale or coupon code up and running.  Like her Facebook page to get all the latest info.

Disclaimer: I bought this polish with my own money, and all opinions are my own.

Nails Inc Covent Garden Ballet

A few month ago I was on Pinterest and came across a polish color called Baker Street by Nails inc.  I hadn't heard of the brand, being the Sherlock lover that I am I had to have it.  While I searched for a cheap way for me to get Baker Street I came across some other colors from Nails inc that went on my wishlist.  The main one being Covet Garden Ballet.  I tried asking on international polish groups, and searching on Google, but I found nothing.  Until one day in December Google provided me with an eBay listing.  I jumped on it.

So without further ado, on the polish.

Let's just say, I'm in love!

I don't normally go for nude colors, but this one caught my eye.  It's a greige with pink and orange shimmer.  The picture above doesn't show it well, but this baby out in the sun and BAM gorgeous. I used three coats and got great opacity, but some of the pictures show a little VNL.

There's that shimmer I had mentioned.

If there's one thing that will make me fall in love with a polish, it's shimmer.  And, it's even better when that shimmer happens to be in a different color.  Covent Garden Ballet has a quality that I've never seen in any mainstream polishes here in the states.  

Oh look, there's a tiny hair on my ring finger.  How did I miss that?

There is one small downside to this polish in particular.  It was sold in a set of four polish, and finding it by itself is quite a task.

Subtly Gorgeous!

Overall, this polish is awesome with the exception of availability   I would love to work on a color that's similar for my store. Not to use as a dupe, but because I love this kind of polish.  

Bottle Shot...

Nails inc can be found here, and Coven Garden Ballet can be found in a set here. 

I don't know if this is just a me thing, but for some reason when I find a British brand of polish I get all excited and giddy.  That might just be the Anglophile in me.

Disclaimer: I bought this polish with my own money and all opinions are my own.

Takko Lacquer Wanderlust

First of all, how awesome is that name?  I've wanted to make a perfume oil called Wanderlust for the better part of a year.  Sadly, I'm a bit lazy and forgetful.

Any who, back to the polish. Wanderlust is what I would called a purpley grey color. Is there a word for that yet?  It's not quite greige, but it's leaning in that direction.  It also has intense aqua shimmer.  It's so stunning, there are no words.

Bottom of the Bottle Shot.  Showing the purple grey and a hint of shimmer.

I applied two coats and it went on like butter, so smooth and gorgeous.  I did however have a dry time problem due to the frigid temps in my room (inconsistent heating). My edges aren't the greatest in these picture either, I saw there was sun and rush to get these shots before it got cloudy again.

Look at the shimmer.  So gorgeous.

Sheryl the owner of Takko Lacquer has impeccable customer service and is a joy to work with.  I love all of her polishes and can honestly say, there isn't s single one that I don't like.

Now on to the photos!

Bottle Shot, the sun was being nice.

Night shot with flash.  Sorry about the edges. 

Overall, this polish is stunning and would be a great addition to any collection.  Takko Lacquer can be found here, and Sheryl restocks Fridays at about 1pm EST, and for the rest of the year you get a free Mani Bomb with each order.  Her polishes are vegan and 3-free.

Disclaimer:  I bought this polish with my own money and all of my opinions are my own.

Photographic Interlude

You may not be able to tell from some of my swatch photos, but I'm a photographer.  I love taking macro shots, but photographing nails is new to me.  I want to work all of my interests into this blog, and I'm thinking about doing a post month focused on my photography.  I won't be doing one this month because I just started my blog back up and I don't have most of my photos.

Now, to explain where my photos are.  If you follow me on Facebook or look at my Etsy you might have seen some musings about laptop problems.  What I put on there isn't even half the problem.  I'll start from the beginning, I bought a new laptop in August.  I was in love with it, and still am.  It's everything I've ever wanted in a laptop.  Things were going great until two days before Halloween.  I went to work on some labels in Publisher (Yes, I still use Publisher) and my computer stopped working.  I thought it might have been something I had done, so I tried to restart it, but to no avail. So, I got plugged in and started to run some scans.  They all came up with nothing really being wrong.  So, I wound up doing a complete backup and restarting my system to factory standards (Not Fun).

Cut to three days after Thanksgiving and my laptop slows down to a snail's pace.  I took it to my local computer place to see what they could do, and after a week all they could come up with was malware.  Luckily, they didn't charge me anything for their non diagnosis.  When I got my laptop back it was working, but a little slower than normal.  I was just happy to have my computer back.

Now, we're in December and things are going fine.  Since my family celebrate Christmas they wanted me to make a list.  On that list were a few things, including an external hard drive.  That was one thing I was really hoping for.  Well, on the day the world was supposed to end, my computer ended.  I don't know if it was some kind of weird karma or just bad luck, but I was screwed.  I did get the hard drive for Christmas, but I can't use it. I ran the same scans I did in October, and this time there was a result.  My hard drive failed.  It's gone.  I called Best Buy and their going to give me a new hard drive for free.  The problem there is that the closest Best Buy is three hours away.

And ALL of my photos and music are on that hard drive, and I don't know if I can get them back.  It's been a very hard few months.

So, all in all, that's my ranting and round about way of saying I want to do a post about photos I've taken that month. Also, why I won't be doing on in January.  If you read all the way through that, you need a prize. I'm thinking you should treat yourself to some chocolate.

1000 Facebook Likes Giveaway

I'm having a giveaway! I reached 1000 likes this evening and launched my latest giveaway. There are five prizes that you could win.  Each one unique and intriguing.  

Thank you to everyone who has liked my page to help me get to this point, and keep your eyes peeled for future giveaways.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Nail Care!

In the past I've been rather bad about nail care.  I have really weak nails (thanks dad!) and they break and tear easily.  This wasn't helped by my nervous habit of picking and tearing my nails when I'm stressed.  I used to not be able to grow my nails at all, they were always little nubs.  That is until I discovered Nailtiques formula 2.  That polish has helped my nails in so many ways, it made me want to put for an effort and try to care for them.  With that in mind, I've created a cuticle balm and oil for my Etsy store. 

I use natural ingredients where I can, and try to make them in skin and lip safe scents.  Just in case you happen to grab it and put it on your lips by mistake. I've done that with my solid perfumes and wasn't pleased with the results.  I put my balms in lip balm tubes for easy application and my oils in 5ml roller ball bottles for the same reason. 

Cuticle Balm 

Cuticle Oil

Now, about the name.  Bubby and Toot are the nicknames I have for two of my cats.  They like to "help" me while I work on polishes or perfumes.  Usually by sitting and staring at me with judgy eyes or by sneaing through my work space knocking things over  You know how cats are.  

Oscar AKA Bubby

Coco AKA Toot

My cuticle oil can be found here, and my balm can be found here. 

I'm no expert on nail care, but what seems to work for me is to apply this and let is set for a few minutes before rubbing it in.  I also like to use it every day.  I've been using it for about a week now and it really has made a difference.

Polish Addict Holo Christmas Lights

Today, I have a lovely from an indie maker I discovered shortly after Christmas.  It's called Polish Addict and can be found here. Sadly I can't find this color anymore on here site.  It was a Christmas color, so it may have been limited edition.  But, if this color is anything to go by, her other polishes are bound to be just as amazing. The polish I bought is called Holo Christmas Lights, and looks like a string of lights. Beware this is kind of a pic heavy post.  It was sunny here for a little while, so I took full advantage.

This is the inside of my window.  Look at that Frost!

You may notice, this first picture has nothing to do with the polish.  I just wanted to show how much frost was on my window, and mention that today's high is 4 degrees Fahrenheit.  Pretty cold.

Now onto the polish pics...

Three coats over Quoth the Raven

Application was pretty good, I didn't have to fish for any glitters, but it did take three coats to get this coverage.  The formula was also a tad thick, but a few drops of thinner took care of that.  You can see all the different colors of small hexes and micro silver holo glitters.  It's really quite a stunning party of a polish. As with most glitters it dried a little lumpy, even with a coat of Seche it was still textured.  I would suggest maybe a second coat of top coat just to seal it off.

Now for more pictures...

Look at that cute label.  It goes surprisingly well with the polish. 

A touch of the claw hands.  

I had a little help while taking pictures.  My cat Oscar decided he wanted to help with the lighting.  So here's a picture that was just too cute not to put in here.

Look at those green eyes.  That's my Bubs.

Overall, this polish was a jot to work with and I think it would look great over any number of other colors.  I chose black to really make the colors pop, but I think white would look smashing as well.  I thought of trying white, but I don't have a white nail polish.  Of all the polishes I have or have made, I don't have a creme white.  I may need to remedy that.  

Obligatory Bottle Shot! Look at all those colors.

This is after two days of wearing still looking pretty good.

My manicure consists of one coat of Nailtiques formula 2 (lifesaver), two coats over Quoth the Raven found here, three coats of Polish Addict's Holo Christmas Lights, and a coat of Seche Vite ( I gave in and bought one.) 

Disclaimer: I bought this polish with my own money and the opinions I gave are my own.

A Dweam Wiffim a Dweam!

That's right you read it.  Dweam Wiffim a Dweam.
-First of all I would like to thank a lovely Facebook friend of mine for the name.
-Second I would like to say this might be my best collection yet.  There are so many great shades in this collection it's not even funny.
-And Third... I can't think of a third, my mind has gone blank.

It consists of 16 shades all inspired by one of my favorite movies The Princess Bride.  I hadn't thought to do a collection based on it until I caught a few minutes of it on TV. In those few minutes I came up with three polishes and it was done.

Today on the blog I'm featuring one of the 16 called Let's Get Mawwied.  A milky white packed with hexes in all sizes in all the pastel colors.

Three Coats No Undies

My camera washes out the green glitters to the point where it looks like they're not there.  In real life they're a bright celery green color, and make a great pop on the nail.  There are also super tiny baby blue hexes that at first look like bubbles.

SUPER MACRO!

So tell me what you think.  Do we like Let's Get Mawwied?  Find it here.

Thor's Hammer!

I don't know what to say about this polish.  It's a single polish that's not in a collection which is unusual for me.  I like to have my polishes listed in groups, but this was too good to pass up.  I love The Avengers and Big Bang Theory, so last weeks episode was right up my alley. This polish didn't come to me until a good friend of mine suggested it on Facebook.  I think I must have zoned out during that part.  Any who, it's here and ready to be talked about.

Three coats of Thor's Hammer Over a yet to be released light blue.

Thor is a clear based glitter that has brown, copper holo, and gold holo glitters that are fine cut. Small silver holo squares, and small silver hexes.  The effect is different, but stunning.

Just a bit closer.

Thor can be found here and sells for 8.00 dollars.  I do ship internationally, just send me a message on Etsy and we can get started.