Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Twinsie Tuesday (On A Wednesday): Birds

Hey guys! Sorry for the late post. There was a little mishap involving my dishwasher and a buncha water, but that's all sorted out now so we can get back to the very important business of nails!

We are doing bird nails this week, so I pulled out some Born Pretty nail stickers from my stash (you can see more about them HERE) and got to work! This particular set has a bunch of different shapes, but I made the owl stickers the main focus here, because...hello, birds?



My base shade is cult favorite OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. It's a deceptively complex shade that looks white, but has this wonderful hint of blue-grey to it. I thought it'd be a good "clean" shade to let the neon stickers pop, but not so plain that it fades completely into the background.

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


Friday, March 25, 2016

OPI Soft Shades 2016 Preview

Now this I like! The theme for OPI's Soft Shades Collection this year is pastels. I'm a sucker for pastels and when they're OPI pastels? Fuhgeddaboutit!

opi-soft-shades-pastels-2016-collection-1
L to R: It's In The Cloud, This Cost Me A Mint, One Chic Chick

opi-soft-shades-pastels-2016-collection-2 
L to R: Stop It I'm Blushing!, It's A Boy!, I Am What I Amethyst

opi-soft-shades-pastels-2016-collection-3

I could see myself picking up the mini set from this collection, since I like several of the shades. On a side note, has it seriously taken this long for OPI to do a polish called It's A Boy? Because that seems like a homerun for ladies looking for baby shower favors. 

Look for these lovelies in April. Which ones will you be getting?

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Lady Queen My Neighbor Totoro Nail Wraps: Review & Swatches






I've got quite possibly the most adorable nail wraps ever to show you guys today! These are from the website Lady Queen and feature designs from the classic anime movie "My Neighbor Totoro."


As you can see, these are non-sticker style wraps, which is what I prefer. I find them much easier to smooth out on the nail and just easier to work with in general. Here's how they look on the nail:



My experience with these was much better than the other Lady Queen wraps I reviewed. I absolutely love these! The wraps are sturdy yet still flexible enough to make application quick and easy. Plus the designs are so ridiculously adorable!

I had some shipping issue with Lady Queen, which you can read about it in my previous review. As for the product itself, absolutely no complaints from me! I'm obsessed with my Totoro nails! :)

If you'd like to purchase anything from Lady Queen, they offer 15% off for Nailed readers using the code DSLC15. These particular wraps are available HERE.


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

Monday, March 21, 2016

Twinsie Tuesday: Formula X Hera

We're doing jewelry-inspired manis this week! I've kinda sorta obsessed with rose gold, so of course I love me some rose gold jewelry. It's my favorite metallic and I love the fun pop it adds to any piece. I figured I'd channel that love into this week's mani, featuring Formula X Hera.

Hera is an absolutely stunning rose gold from Formula X's Divine Stardust line. These polishes have large holo bits so that they almost look like glitters, but they feel silky smooth (no grit!) and have all the sparkle and shine of a traditional holo. I did a crappy job of explaining it, so lemme just show you this beauty!




Seriously, I want to bathe in this polish. I was constantly staring at my nails when I had this on. It's sooooooo gorgeous, you guys!

The formula is equally lovely. Opacity is reached in just two coats. I skipped top coat to maximize the holo.

I definitely need to check out more of the Divine Stardust line after falling for Hera! Hopefully you enjoyed this polish as much as I did!

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


Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Twinsie Tuesday: China Glaze Blue Sparrow

This week we're doing favorite color. I could go in two directions with this one. My favorite "real life" color is pink, but my favorite polish color is blue. But seeing as this blog is dedicated to all things polish, I went with the latter. I have a ton of blue polishes in my stash, as you would expect, and I decided to kick it old school this week with China Glaze Blue Sparrow, an electric blue jelly with silver microglitter.



Unfortunately an old school neon also means old school neon formula, so this one is definitely chalky and patchy. I used three coats but I could've done with a fourth due to the uneven application. It also dries ultra matte, so top coat is a necessity.

CG has come a long way with their neons since this one, but it's still a fun polish to revisit because the color itself is still outstanding. It's so vibrant and the shimmer is the cherry on top.

Hope you enjoyed the trip down memory lane and be sure to take a look at my Twinsies' blogs too!

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


Thursday, March 10, 2016

Lady Queen Ice Cream Nail Wraps: Review & Swatches






Can someone please explain this product to me? How can something so adorable go so awry?

So I was recently contacted by the website Lady Queen and asked to review some of their products. One of the ones I selected was these ice cream nail wraps:


Cute, right?

But every time I try sticker-style wraps (ones like these that you peel off of a sheet versus ones that come with their own individual backings like Sally Hansen, Incoco, etc.) I am reminded of why I don't like them all that much. They are much stiffer, making them harder to apply and prone to creasing on the nail, so getting the wrap to adhere smoothly with no creases or bumps is very difficult. These had all of those trademark problems.


But that's not my biggest gripe here. It's the design. The proportion on those half-moon shapes is waaayyy off. The half-moon is much larger than I was expecting. In fact, they take up so much room on the nail that you wind up cutting off almost all of the design. My nails aren't super long right now, but they're not nubs either. I think the half-moons would be a really cute addition if they were smaller, but as it stands, you almost get more of the half-moon than the actual design on the nail. Boo! Why would you design them this way?! Why?!
 
On the customer service end, shipping took a looonnnggg time, y'all. I am used to waiting longer when dealing with overseas shipping, but this package took almost three months to arrive. I honestly thought it had gotten lost in the mail. I am not sure if the package was just caught up in the jumble of the international mailing system or what, but I wanted to give a forewarning that shipping may not be the most expedient and that you should plan on extra time for shipping if you're ordering something for a specific occasion. My service rep at Lady Queen kept in touch to make sure I received my package and for what it's worth, I couldn't find any other online reviews that mention shipping issues. So this could just be a fluke, but I wanted to be sure I mentioned this either way, for the sake of 100% transparency with you guys.

If you haven't guessed it, these were kind of a flop for me. Quality-wise they are typical of most sticker-style nail wraps I've tried, but the real letdown is with the design layout. If you don't mind the half-moon or if you've got longer nails than I do, then these might be worth a look for you, but I found them disappointing. I've got one more product from Lady Queen to review and I'm really excited about it, so hopefully that one won't let me down!

If you'd like to purchase anything from Lady Queen, they offer 15% off for Nailed readers using the code DSLC15.


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

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Deborah Lippmann Sweets For My Sweet Preview

Deborah Lippmann has THE cutest new set out for spring!! The Sweets For My Sweet set has six all-new pastel minis.
 
Top row, L to R: Sugar Sugar, Lemon Drop, Sweet Pea
Bottom row, L to R: My Boy Lollipop, All Day Sucker, Candy Girl

I know I have similar shades to these in my collection already but man, do I want this! It's so stinkin' cute and the colors just scream springtime to me!

This set retails for $34 and is already available online.

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Twinsie Tuesday: Rescue Beauty Lounge Santa Fe

This week, we're doing nails inspired by a city. I decided to go with a polish that was not only inspired by a city, but named for one as well: Rescue Beauty Lounge Santa Fe. RBL is one of my all-time favorite brands (RIP) not only because of their gorgeous polishes, but also the artistic inspiration  behind each shade.

Ji always has the best polish descriptions so I'll let her do the talking here, as she really conjures up the imagery behind this polish beautifully: "An aerial view of her imaginary Santa Fe--the baked earth tones of ochre with the shimmery glisteningly ubiquitous dotted greens." Takes you right there, doesn't it?



RBL always delivered fantastic formulas and Santa Fe is no exception. This is two coats.

If my memory is correct, this is the only orange that RBL ever released. But what a beauty she is!

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, March 5, 2016

Zoya Petals Spring 2016 Preview

I was a huge fan of Zoya's spring collection last year, so I've been curious to see what they'd have in store for us this time around. Zoya tends to go the route of offering both a creme and a shimmer version of each color in a lot of their collections, but they mixed things up this time around with the new Petals Collection. Check it out!

 
L to R: Leia,  Aster, Azalea, Zahara, Tulip, Laurel

I think Leia and Zahara both look super pretty! I'm a sucker for shimmers, what can I say. The collection is already available on Zoya's site, so expect to see it in stores soon!

Friday, March 4, 2016

Smitten Polish Mint Chip

Polish in general is of course a weakness of mine, but I am especially powerless to resist the lure of ice cream-themed nail polish. I own quite a few of them and I've got one to share with you all today: Smitten Polish Mint Chip. As you would expect, it's a pastel green with brown glitter (both square and round varieties), intended to resemble mint chocolate chip ice cream. Adorable!



The formula is a little on the thinner side, but not so much so that it's at all difficult to work with. I used three coats here.

I'm not sure if Smitten Polish still makes Mint Chip. I tried checking but unfortunately their site is currently on hiatus.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Twinsie Tuesday: Marbling

Hey guys. I missed last week 'cause I was out of town, but I'm back for TT this week for...ugh...a marbled mani. :-/ Marbling remains one of the most frustrating nail art techniques for me. I have never had the patience/technique required to pull off an actual water marble mani, but I do dabble in dry marbling from time to time. So that's what I decided to do this time around.



Index and middle fingers: Essie Cocktail Bling
Ring finger: OPI Never Have Too Many Friends with Essie Cocktail Bling
Pinkie: Urban Outfitters Silver Holo

I kept it to an accent nail, because something about all marbled nails looks a little too chaotic for me. Probably because I'm not good enough to purposefully create actual designs instead of just random swirls.

As for the colors, I wanted to keep them kinda winter-y. I made Essie Cocktail Bling, one of my very favorite Essie's, the focal point. It's such a cool color: sorta grey, sorta blue, sorta lavender.

Anywho, I hope you enjoyed today's post and be sure to head over to my Twinsies' blogs for what I'm sure will be some much more impressive marbled 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


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