Twinsie Tuesday: Splatter Mani

I feel like a bad nail blogger for saying this but I really don't like doing splatter manis. I love the way they look, of course, but I find the process of creating them to be messy and tedious. So I busted out my favorite nail art cheat: nail wraps! They truly are the lazy manicurist's best friend.

These are the Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail wraps in the design Sweet Marble Floret. The name doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, but the pattern is a lovely abstract mix of pastel shades with black splatter over top, then a shimmering pearl glaze to bring it all together.

Okay, so it might not be a 100% match for a splatter pattern, but it's at least in the neighborhood, yeah? 

I love Sally Hansen's wraps and over the years I've had good luck with finding cool designs on clearance. I don't think I've ever paid full price. These only set me back a buck and some change! All it takes is patience and good timing.

Be sure to take a look at my Twinsie's splatter manis today too! Let's see if I'm the only dirty cheater in the bunch. ;)

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Lisa at The Polish Playground

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Kristine at Pink and Polished Nails

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amanda at Amandalandish

Incoco Pride Nails Nail Wraps: Review & Swatches

I've reviewed many, many nail wraps on here, but this particular design is a special one--and especially timely, given the fantastic news about the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage last week! Incoco has created some Pride Nails nail wraps in partnership with the Vancouver Pride Society, a non-profit LGBTTQ organization. A portion of the proceeds from these wraps will go directly to the Vancouver Pride Society to help support the health and vitality of the LGBTTQ community.

The Pride Nails design features a white base with a triangular cut-out revealing all the colors of the rainbow.

Since I've reviewed the quality of Incoco's wraps in the past, (click HERE if you would like to read more about application and longevity) I wanted to focus most of my attention on the design itself. But as a quick note, I will say that Incoco makes some of the best quality wraps on the market and these are just as good as anything I've tried from them in the past.

I absolutely love these wraps, not just for the beautiful design but also for what it represents. It's a cause near and dear to my own heart and this is such a fun way to give back and look good doing it! You're getting a great quality product that supports a fantastic cause. Everyone wins! :)

You can purchase these wraps through the Pride Nails online store. If you're in the Vancouver area, there are also several retail shops where you can pick up some Pride Nails (see website for details).


Disclosure: This product was sent for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Essie Cashmere Matte Brights Preview

It's been a long time since I found out about a new collection just by seeing it on the store shelf, but that's exactly what happened with the Essie Cashmere Matte Brights Collection. I had no idea this even existed. But I did a little digging on the internet and came up with some preview pics to share with you guys!

 

Source 

This is a limited edition Ulta-exclusive collection. I have no self-control, so I wound up with three of the four polishes. It's not often you see satin polishes in more vibrant colors, so I couldn't resist! Soft as Sand is the only one I didn't get. It was pretty but it seemed the least unique of the set.

Review: Lush Life's A Beach Body Scrub

It's been a while since I've done a Lush review on here, but I thought it'd be fun to chat about their newest product: Life's A Beach Body Scrub! A cool thing to note about this item is that 100% of the purchase price is donated to organizations working to protect waterways from microbead pollution--y'know, those little plastic buggers that are in so many face and body scrubs.

Life's A Beach is an environmentally-friendly blend of sand and sea salt, topped off with a scrumptious vanilla-caramel scent.

At first, it was a little odd to wrap my head around how to use this--I mean, it's literally sand--but I've found using only a small amount of product goes a long way and also helps to minimize any messiness. Everything went down the drain easily, so I wasn't dealing with any clogs or sand all over the shower.

I really like how smooth and soft this makes my skin feel, no after-shower lotion needed! This is a scrub that exfoliates well without feeling overly coarse or rough. The sea salt gives it some extra grit, but it's not too intense. If you've tried Lush's Ocean Salt (which I also love), Life's A Beach is considerably gentler. It's perfect to use before shaving. The light vanilla scent is a nice bonus as well. It's noticeable when you sniff closely but not potent enough that it'll interfere with the scent of your favorite lotion or perfume afterwards.

Overall, I wouldn't say this is an absolute must-have, but it is a nice skin indulgence for summer. It's a fun little extra to pop in your bag on vacation--or to bring the beach to you! A 3.3 oz pot will only set you back $6.95, so the price is right and I like that the purchase price goes completely to charity.  But this is limited edition, so if you want it, snap it up fast!

Have you tried Life's A Beach? What are some of your favorite tips or products for soft skin?

Sally Hansen Pisces Of Me

Sally Hansen's Beachside Astrologer Collection gets my pick as the best drugstore polish collection of the year--so far, at least. There are so many awesome colors in this collection that I was hard pressed to only pick up a few when I finally spotted it at my local Target. I managed to whittle my picks down to three, and the first one I've got to show you today just might be the best shade in the whole set, in my humble opinion.

Pisces of Me is a metallic blue with eye-popping flecks of blue, purple and copper. You really can't appreciate the amount of depth this polish has unless you look at it really closely, so let's start things off with a macro bottle shot! Don't you just want to live inside this gorgeousness?!

And now for how it looks on the nails. The detail and depth of the shimmer doesn't come through quite as well on the nails as it does in the bottle, but it's still a gorgeous polish--and in fairness, the shimmer is more noticeable in person than my camera portrays. They flash in the light like little sparks! I took pictures in lots of different light settings to try and bring out the shimmer as much as possible on camera and show you just how multifaceted this polish really is.

Pisces Of Me has a wonderful formula. This was three easy coats.

I love the "mermaid couture" vibe of this shade--so perfect for Pisces! Do you put any stock in astrological signs? I don't read daily horoscopes or anything like that, but I do see a lot of classic Gemini traits in myself, so I guess I believe in it a little bit? I dunno. A Gemini being indecisive--what a surprise! ;)

Twinsie Tuesday: Shimmer

Hey all! Unfortunately I won't have a post up for today's Twinsie Tuesday. I've been out of town for the past five days, so I didn't have access to my polishes and nail art supplies. The primary reason for my trip was to attend my cousin's wedding in Detroit, but if you follow me on Instagram, then you know I also travelled to pick up this cutie pie on Sunday night:

Meet Sapphira, our new rescue kitty! She's an eight-year old Snowshoe and a total sweetheart. She's been ours for only about 24 hours, but I already feel like I'm a crazy cat lady.

So in between all that driving around and getting kitty situated, I didn't have time to pull together a TT mani, but I'll be back in proper swatching action very soon. In the meantime, I hope you'll take a look at my fellow Twinsies' shimmer manis!

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Kristine at Pink and Polished Nails

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Blobbicure With LOOK Nail Color Look Proud Collection

Walgreen's has been cranking out the exclusive polishes lately! One of their newest additions is the brand LOOK. LOOK just launched last month and their first collection, Look Proud, features patriotic shades of red, white and blue.

You might remember that I shared a blobbicure mani in this week's Twinsie Tuesday post, but my first attempt at a blobbicure was actually created using two polishes from the collection: Broad Stripes Bright Stars and Rockets Red Glare.

I left myself ample dry time and still got a bit of smudging when I applied my top coat, but other than that, I'm really pleased with my blobbicure! The designs remind me a lot of giraffe print. I gotta say, this is quickly becoming one of my favorite nail art techniques to play around with.

Before I leave you, here are some quick 'n dirty swatches of the LOOK polishes by themselves.

Rockets Red Glare is your classic pin-up red. It's not too blue or too orange, so anyone can wear it. This is two coats.

Broad Stripes Bright Stars is a white creme. For me, formulas are everything when it comes to white polish and this one is really nice. With thin coats, it has a smidge of drag to it, but if you paint on your coats a bit thicker than usual, it is buttery, creamy perfection. I used two coats here.

Oh Say Can You See is a royal blue jelly. I wanted to use this as an accent nail in my blobbicure, but it was a little too sheer for that. Still, color-wise, it's my favorite of the bunch. This is three coats.

You can purchase LOOK at Walgreen's. Bottles are 0.5 oz and retail for $6.99 each. If you want to learn more about the brand, you can also check out their website HERE.


Disclosure: These polishes were provided for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Essie Gel Setter Preview

Let's face it: "gel-like" top coats are the thing right now. It seems like every brand, from drugstore to high-end, has one. Now we can add Essie's Gel Setter to the mix.

Like all the other gel-substitute top coats, this one promises high shine and long wear. To me, formula is EVERYTHING with gel top coats. Someone who changes their polish as often as I do doesn't necessarily care about extra-long wear, but if the top coat goes on like butter, I'll be sold! I just know I'm gonna wind up trying this one, because I am a sucker for new top coats...

Look for Gel Setter in stores next month, with a standard retail price of $10. Essie had it on their website for a hot second, but it's already sold out!

I've never tried any of Essie's top coats, although I am a big fan of their Feed Me Base Coat (full review HERE). Are they any good?

OPI Infinite Shine Summer 2015 Preview

I have been using the Infinite Shine base and top coat with everything lately, but I'll confess that I've only bought one of the actual Infinite Shine polishes so far. I think that's gonna be changing though once these summer additions to the line come out!

Bee Mine Forever

 

Enter The Golden Era

 

S-ageless Beauty

 

Wild Blue Yonder

 

The Sun Never Sets

 

Lavendurable

 

Follow Your Bliss

 

You're Blushing Again

 

Patience Pays Off

 

Silver On Ice

Yay for our first non-creme Infinite Shines! I don't have an issue with cremes themselves, but at $12.50 a pop, I like to see some more variety with my shade selection, ya know?

Look for these puppies sometime in July. Any you'll be adding to your collection? I'm liking the look of Wild Blue Yonder, S-ageless Beauty and The Sun Never Sets, myself!

Also, in case you missed it, feel free to check out my original review and swatches of Infinite Shine HERE.

Twinsie Tuesday: Blobbicure

I'm pretty hopeless at nail art, but I've been dying to try a blobbicure! I tend to fare okay with more abstract nail art techniques, because then it doesn't matter as much if everything doesn't come out perfectly. :)

Now, as I've mentioned a couple times on here, one of my not-so-guilty pleasures is professional wrestling and last week one of the all-time greats, Dusty Rhodes a.k.a. "The American Dream," passed away. When he wrestled in WWE, Dusty's ring gear was black with yellow polka dots, so I used his colors as inspiration for my blobbicure.

For reference, here's Dusty in his signature black and yellow:

And then here is the blobbicure I created using Wet N Wild Black Creme and Deborah Lippmann Walking On Sunshine:

This is my second time doing a blobbicure; I did one last week that I haven't posted yet. But for just a second try, I think this came out really well and I'm super proud of it! I absolutely love how the yellow pops! The blobs didn't get as distorted as they did for my first blobbicure, but I was playing around with some different techniques this time, so that's probably to blame.

Have you tried doing a blobbicure? They're actually pretty simple and fun! It's not often I find a nail art technique I can pull off, but this is one I had a really good time doing!

Hope you enjoyed my little tribute nails today. Be sure to take a look at what my Twinsies are up to!

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Lisa at The Polish Playground

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Kristine at Pink and Polished Nails

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amanda at Amandalandish

Rainbow Honey Siren Song

Today's polish is an oldie but a goodie: Rainbow Honey Siren Song, a shimmering aqua with gold and blue hexes, as well as blue bar glitter. It's got this blend of beachy yet ethereal vibes to it that channels all-time classics like Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream. If you liked that polish, you'll definitely be a fan of Siren Song! Here it is over Nicole by OPI My Lifesaver.

Here's a shot of it in direct sunlight:

Application is a sinch--no dabbling or fishing required. I used one coat here.

You can purchase Rainbow Honey from their website.

OPI Venice Preview

In a year of monster-sized OPI collections (not that you'll hear me complaining!), we've got another one on our hands with the Venice Collection. Y'see, OPI's done something a little bit different this time around. With the Venice Collection, there will be 12 new shades, which will immediately become a part of OPI's core collection, as well as three limited edition shades. Check 'em out!

Top row, L to R: A Great Opera-tunity, It's A Piazza Cake, Worth A Pretty Penne, Tiramisu For Two, Amore At The Grand Canal, Gimme A Lido Kiss

Middle row, L to R: Be There In A Prosecco, I Cannoli Wear OPI, Gelato On My Mind, Purple Palazzo Pants, O Suzi Mio, My Gondola Or Yours?

Bottom row, L to R: Venice The Party?, Baroque..But Still Shopping!, St. Mark's The Spot

It doesn't look much like a fall collection, does it? Most of the colors look more spring-y to me. Either way, there are some great-looking shades here. I've got my eye on Worth A Pretty Penne and It's A Piazza Cake. I think Gelato On My Mind also looks gorgeous, albeit extremely similar to my beloved Essie Blossom Dandy, so I will probably pass on it despite how much I want it anyways!

Expect to see these beauties on shelves come August. Any you'll be picking up?

Twinsie Tuesday: Nicole by OPI My Lifesaver

We are digging into our stashes this week to show our oldest untried polish. Mine comes way back from the Nicole by OPI Justin Beiber collaboration (I know, I know, don't judge me for buying this), which was released in 2011, a simpler time when the Biebs was considered wholesome enough to have a nail polish line for tween girls. Yes, this polish has sat in my untrieds for four freaking years. *hangs head in shame* I'm not sure what's worse: how long this has gone unworn or the fact that I own a Bieber-themed polish. I'll leave that up for you, dear reader, to decide.

I'm not a Beiber fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I got My Lifesaver anyways. I remember overcoming my distaste for Beiber in the name of awesome mint green polish. This isn't a unique color in my current stash, but back when it was released I only had a small handful of polishes, so I couldn't resist it. The Beiber association is probably why I put off wearing this for so long, because the color itself is a really lovely blue-toned mint creme.

The formula here is solid. It has a smidge of drag to it, but other than that, I've got no complaints. Even the ironically named NOPI Perfect Stroke brush, probably my most-hated brush design of all-time, didn't bother me this time around. This is three coats.

I'm really curious to see if any of my fellow Twinsies have an untried older than mine! I can't be the only one with a years-old polish hanging around...right?

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Kristine at Pink and Polished Nails

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Colour Prevails Launch Collection Preview

Colour Prevails is a new Walgreen's-exclusive beauty brand that comes to us from Nonie Creme, the former creative director of Butter London. The line features everything from mascara to lip gloss to foundation, but seeing as this is a nail blog, we'll be focusing strictly on the polish for this preview.

The launch line-up is pretty darn big, so get ready for a lot of bottle shots below. At $8 each for .32 oz bottles, these are on the higher end of drugstore prices, but if the quality is there, they might be worth indulging on!

Crank Call

 

Mr. Wrong

 

Wine O'Clock

 

Cocky

 

All-Nighter

 

Frock Star

 

Man Hunter Green

 

Tattle Tail

 

Mama's Boy

 

Mr. Right

 

Bridezilla

 

Party Girl

 

Reality Star

 

Babeland

 

Mr. Right Now

 

Clacker

 

Sashimi

 

Blue Blood

 

No Regrets

 

Date Night

 

Blind Date

 

Glossy Posse

 

Wallflower

 

Socially Awkward

 

Frenemy

 

Boss Lady

 

Wardrobe Staple

 

Mr. Big

 

Daddy's Girl

 

Girls Club

 

Glamazon

 

Troublemaker

 

Priveleged

 

Shy Guy

 

Cry Baby

Then we've got the base and top coats:

 

Mannequin Hands CC Creme Basecoat

 

Lacquer Locker Topcoat

 

Matte Finish Topcoat

The butterfly wing handle is...interesting. I think it's kinda weird-looking, but who knows, maybe it'll feel amazing in-hand. At least you'll never confuse these bottles with any other ones in your stash! It does appear to be removable (much like how Butter London's bottles are), so you can polish with a more traditional round handle, if you prefer.

Judging by these photos, I'll be looking for Sashimi, Socially Awkward and Cry Baby. I searched for these and the Belle Orly Color Blast Collection at my Walgreen's yesterday but no dice. If you can't wait for these to pop up in-store or if you don't have a Walgreen's near you, drugstore.com has the whole collection, including the cosmetics.

What do you think of Colour Prevails? Tried anything from the line yet? Do share! :)