Thursday, December 31, 2015

Lynnderella New Year's Eve Eve

It wouldn't be a New Year's mani without glitter and I figure there's no better choice than Lynderella New Year's Eve Eve! This is a rainbow explosion of glitter in all shapes and sizes that brings to mind the gallons of confetti that will be falling in Times Square tonight.




I layered two coats over Wet N Wild Break The Ice, a pearly white shimmer. I thought it was the perfect base because it lets the colorful glitters stand out while still adding some sparkle of its own.

New Year's Eve Eve didn't have any notable formula issues. Like any glitter polish of this type, you'll get some large pieces that need to be guided away from the free edge of the nail, but otherwise this has a nice 'n easy formula.

I absolutely love this mani and how it looks like a little party on my nails! A big thanks to my buddy (and one-time Twinsie Tuesday member) Tara for gifting it to me!

What's on your nails tonight? Any fun New Year's plans? I'm eating tacos and watching "Archer" with my boyfriend. My kind of night. :)

Friday, December 25, 2015

OPI Ce-less-tial Is More

I didn't do anything super fancy for my Christmas mani this year, but I did make sure to keep it nice and sparkly! OPI Ce-less-tial Is More definitely fits the bill. It's an explosion of silver glitter, complete with holographic accents.



I was expecting this to need several coats, so I was pleasantly surprised at how opaque it really is. I only needed two coats! It feels super gritty on, however, so you'll definitely want an extra layer of top coat. I'm never bothered by glitters feeling rough on my nails but even I found this distractingly gritty. It almost feels like a Liquid Sand polish.

If you celebrate, I hope you had a lovely Christmas today! Did you wear anything fun on your nails?

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Twinsie Tuesday: Holiday Mani

The Twinsie Tuesday girls are checking in from our seasonal hiatus to bring you some holiday manis! This time of year is crazy for all of us, but we wanted to do at least one post for December.

For my mani, I went with my favorite holiday color combo of red and gold. Plus since it's the holidays, you know I gotta bring some extra sparkle. So I took the red and white glitterbomb goodness of Lumina Lacquer Candy Cane Lane and layered it over my favorite gold polish, OPI Glitzerland. Candy Cane Lane is such a great polish and I couldn't let the holiday season pass without wearing it at least once. Seriously, who can resist a polish with candy cane-shaped glitter?!



I plan to post again before Christmas but I wanted to take the opportunity to wish all of you a safe and happy holiday season. I hope whatever your plans are and whichever holidays you celebrate, that you feel happy and loved.

                        
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
Claire at Kerruticles
Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer
Marisa at Polish Obsession
Marisa at Polish Those Nails
Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les


Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Sharon at Behind Green Eyes


Saturday, December 19, 2015

Kerry Washington To Collaborate With OPI

 

OPI has signed a deal with actress Kerry Washington, best known as the star of the tremendously popular show "Scandal," to join the brand as a "creative ambassador." In addition to serving as a spokeswoman for the brand, Kerry will also be co-designing a collection, slated to launch sometime in 2016!

So what might we expect for Kerry's collection? Well, in the full announcement on WWD, she named Lincoln Park After Dark, Big Apple Red and You Don't Know Jacques as some of her all-time favorite OPI shades. She also expressed admiration for Gwen Stefani's past OPI collab, saying she'd like to do something similar for her own collection.

I don't watch "Scandal" but I think Kerry has a fantastic sense of style, so I'm intrigued to see what she has in store for us! Are you excited for this collab? What types of colors would you like to see in the collection?


Friday, December 18, 2015

Nubar Holiday Gala Collection: Review & Swatches







Hey guys! I wanted to start the weekend off right with some holiday swatches for you, so today we'll be checking out Nubar's Holiday Gala Collection! We've got four sparklies to talk about, so let's get to it.

Violet Sparkle is a violet glitterbomb. I like wearing polishes like this alone for a full-on glitter explosion, so I layered Violet Sparkle up to full opacity with four coats. Again, sorry for the cuts on my index finger. Most of these swatches were taken when the cuts were still healing. :-/



Petunia Sparkle is a magenta version of Violet Sparkle. I got soooo many compliments on this one. When the girl working the drive-thru window asks to see your nails, you know it's good. ;) This is four coats again.


Red Ruby Glitz is a classic holiday red shimmer, very much in the vein of China Glaze Ruby Pumps. Since this has a tinted base, it's much more opaque than the previous two glitters and only needed two coats.


The last polish is my favorite of the collection: Celebration Sparkles! This has rainbow hex and micro glitters. This is such a fun polish and would be perfect for a New Year's party! This is two coats over Sally Hansen Celeb City, a silver foil.



You can purchase the Holiday Gala Collection on Nubar's website. Which shade is your favorite? Do you have a holiday nail look planned out yet?


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

Sunday, December 13, 2015

OPI Give Me Space

I was disappointed with OPI's holiday collection overall, but if there's a bright spot for me, it's gotta be Give Me Space. Give Me Space is a gorgeous shade of midnight blue with scattered silver holo. This would be the perfect shade for a holiday cocktail party!




The formula is a dream. What you see above is two buttery coats. The holo here isn't strong, but I actually think that was the right call with this particular shade. The base color is so gorgeous and having just little glints of holo peeking through really add to the night sky kind of vibe this polish has.

If you only buy one polish from the Starlight Collection, this gets my vote! This is easily one of my favorite OPI polishes of 2015. Now if we could just get more colors like Give Me Space and less holiday reds, I'd be a truly happy polish addict. :p

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

November Empties & Mini-Reviews


Lush Herbalism Cleanser: Lots of Lush empties for me this month! This is my HG cleanser and I've gone through many containers of it by now. I did a full write-up on it HERE.

Bed Head Rockaholic Dirty Secret Dry Shampoo: This is one of the best dry shampoos I've tried--shame it's so pricey. It does an excellent job of de-gunking your hair and adds great volume too. I go through dry shampoo super fast, so I stock up on this when it's on sale.

Lush Charity Pot Hand and Body Lotion: A nice rich (but not too greasy) body lotion. I bought this on a whim, because I liked that 100% of the selling price goes to various charities supported by Lush, and wound up really enjoying it. I used it for quite a while and then suddenly my boyfriend decided he hated the smell. It just smells like cocoa butter to me, so I told him he'd have to live with it. :p

Lush D'Fluff Strawberry Shaving Soap: This is a creamy soap that creates a light, conditioning lather for shaving. I will definitely purchase another pot of this! A little goes a long way, but without gumming up your razor. Plus it has a delicious strawberry scent!

Lush Yummy Mummy Body Conditioner: The concept of limited edition skincare is always a frustrating one for me. I don't mind it as much with color products, because it takes me forever to use up a lipstick or eyeshadow. I get that Lush has to make room for new goodies each season, but it sucks when you fall in love with a skincare product that's no longer available! Lush's body conditioners are like an in-shower body lotion. You leave them on for a minute or two, then rinse and enjoy your ultra soft skin! This one has organic cocoa butter and almond oil, making it super rich and creamy. The scent is divine! It smells like strawberries and honey to me. I absolutely adored this product and I hope Lush brings it back next spring!

Nivea In-Shower Body Lotion for Dry Skin: I was using this a ton until I fell head over heels for Yummy Mummy, then finished it off after Yummy Mummy was done. It's formulated with shea butter and that's the only real scent it has to it. It's not as rich or as fragrant as Yummy Mummy, but I still enjoyed it and will likely re-purchase.

Mally Volumizing Mascara: I have a tendency to hang on to mascaras way too long and I finally had to force myself to chuck this one, because it was getting super dry and past its prime. This is easily the blackest mascara I've ever used. I love how thick and dark it makes my lashes. I suggest layering this over a lengthening mascara if you have short, stubby lashes like me, because it really gives more thickness than length.

Clinique Turnaround Concentrate Extra Radiance Renewer: I've tried quite a few brightening serums and this is one of the best! I've always felt I have a naturally dull complexion and after a couple weeks of using this, I noticed my skin seemed more vibrant and glowing. Clinique recommends wearing their serums over a moisturizer and while that's the opposite of everything I've been taught, I followed the directions and it definitely worked! I'll have to get another bottle of this!

Mario Badescu  Facial Spray With Aloe, Herbs and Rosewater: I can't live without a good facial mist, especially in the wintertime! I'm a big fan of the Mario Badescu line in general. They make wonderful products and I love the philosophy behind the line where they don't spend money on advertising and excess packaging, so they can provide high-quality ingredients at a budget-friendly price point. Almost all of their skincare products are less than $30! I was turned on to this spray by a co-worker who swore by it as a setting spray and it works great as a post-skincare mist too! It feels very soothing and refreshing on the skin.

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Orly Melrose Spring 2016 Collection Preview

Where did the year go?! I can't believe it's almost 2016! But we've got a sneak peek at what's in store next spring with Orly's Melrose Collection. This collection offers six new shades with pops of teal and pink. Take a look!

 

The color palette is cute. I love me a good teal, even if these seem dupeable. I'm curious to see some swatches of Feel The Funk and Beautifully Bizarre too!

I'm not sure of a release date on these, but I'm guessing we'll see them in February. Will you be picking anything up from the Melrose Collection?

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Born Pretty Frame Design Nail Wraps: Review & Swatches

Today's nail wraps from Born Pretty Store fulfilled a long-time nail art wish of mine! I've been dying to try a frame-style design ever since I saw Marina of Marina and the Diamonds wear it in her video for "Primadonna."


I didn't really trust myself to try and freehand it, so when I saw that Born Pretty carried these wraps with the same design, I knew I had to have them! I'm dumb and forgot to take a picture of the wraps before I put them on my nails, so I'll just cut to the chase and show you how they look on. :)

The wraps you get are a mixture of pastel pink and mint green, so I decided to do one hand with each! Here's the pink (sorry about my yucky-looking cut)...



...and then the green!


I got soooooo many compliments on these, you guys! Even complete strangers noticed them! The design is simple but very striking. I love the pastel pop of color! I had a lot of fun wearing these and I would definitely like to try a design like this again.

The wear time and quality were both excellent. You can wear these sans topcoat but I always put some on top just to make them extra durable. I removed them after several days and they still looked almost good as new.

If you would like to purchase anything from Born Pretty, they offer 10% off for Nailed readers:

www.bornprettystore.com


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