Twinsie Tuesday: Glitter Placement

Hey guys! So today we are doing manis featuring glitter placement. I've got a couple baggies of loose glitter shapes, mostly from Lumina Lacquer. She includes them with a lot of her glitterbomb polishes so you won't have to fish in the bottle for specific pieces you want. Cool customer service touches like that are one of the many reasons I love indie polish!

For this mani, I used some skull and crossbones glitters that came with Seven Year Witch.

Pink: Zoya Shelby
Black: OPI Never Have Too Mani Friends!

I really need to do glitter placement nails more often. They're super quick and fun. Just grab some tweezers and you're good to go!

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Alice at Nail Art in Wonderland

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

Claire at Kerruticles

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Marisa at Polish Those Nails

Megan at A Beauty in the Business

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Sara at The Call of Beauty

Sarah at Cloudy with a Chance of Lacquer

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Sharon at Behind Green Eyes

Steph at Lovestruck Lacquer

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

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.

Twinsie Tuesday: LynBDesigns Benedict

We're doing a romantic theme this week, so I decided to bust out the heart glitter! I actually only have one polish in my stash that prominently features heart glitter and that's LynBDesigns Benedict. Benedict is a glitterbomb with small blue and holographic silver glitters and then of course the aforementioned hearts in shades of holographic blue, silver and red. I layered Benedict over OPI Look At My Bow!, a bubblegum pink.

Benedict is a cute polish, but I honestly feel like the glitter is too dense. I usually can't get enough glitter, but since this is designed to be a layering glitter, I think the overall look would benefit from allowing the base polish to peek through more. I wiped down my brush for each nail and I still felt like I was getting a ton of glitter each time. The end result can get a little crowded-looking--and this is with only one coat of Benedict. Oddly enough, I really had to fish for the heart glitters. There's so much small glitter that they get kind of buried.

I guess what I'm trying to say is I like it, but I don't love it. Anything with glitter is never a total loss. ;)

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Alice at Nail Art in Wonderland

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

Claire at Kerruticles

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Marisa at Polish Those Nails

Megan at A Beauty in the Business

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Sara at The Call of Beauty

Sarah at Cloudy with a Chance of Lacquer

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Sharon at Behind Green Eyes

Steph at Lovestruck Lacquer

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Twinsie Tuesday: Mix and Match

The theme mix and match is pretty broad, so I tried to pick several polishes with different finishes in colors that I thought would be kind of unexpected and edgy together. That was the idea anyways. Instead, I think they just came out...well, I don't wanna go so far as to say ugly, but...it wasn't quite what I was going for. See and judge for yourself.

Index and pinky fingers: OPI DS Coronation
Middle finger: OPI Did It On 'Em with KBShimmer nail vinyls
Ring finger: OPI Metallic 4 Life
Thumb: Illamasqua Scorch with KBShimmer nail vinyls

The nail vinyls are by far my favorite part of this mani. They're a great nail art cheat--super easy and fast--and I love the variety of designs KBShimmer has to choose from. My main issue is with Did It On 'Em. I thought it'd be an interesting pop of color but it seems like it threw off the cohesiveness of the rest of the mani.

Anyways, I'm overanalyzing this. This mani had some hits and some misses, but I guess that's the nature of mix and match! ;)

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Alice at Nail Art in Wonderland

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

Claire at Kerruticles

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Marisa at Polish Those Nails

Megan at A Beauty in the Business

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Sara at The Call of Beauty

Sarah at Cloudy with a Chance of Lacquer

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Sharon at Behind Green Eyes

Steph at Lovestruck Lacquer

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Twinsie Tuesday: Grey and Gold

Kudos to whoever came up with this theme, because gold and grey is one of my favorite color combos! I kept this one pretty simple. I started with a grey base of Deborah Lippmann Chasing Pavements and added a sprinkling of holographic gold glitter with Nubar Gold Celebration.

I loooooove Chasing Pavements. Such a perfect grey! Not too much more to say on this one--like I said, it's simple, but hopefully pretty too. :)

Be sure to check out my fellow Twinsies' grey and gold manis today! I like these colors so much that I'm sure I'll be borrowing an idea or two of theirs for future manis!

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Alice at Nail Art in Wonderland

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

Claire at Kerruticles

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Marisa at Polish Those Nails

Megan at A Beauty in the Business

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Sara at The Call of Beauty

Sarah at Cloudy with a Chance of Lacquer

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Sharon at Behind Green Eyes

Steph at Lovestruck Lacquer

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Disclosure: The Nubar polish in this post was sent for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Madam Glam Color-Changing Gel Polish in Hot Hot Hot

I've been hardcore crushing on Hot Hot Hot after seeing it on Amber from Nails Like Lace, so when Madam Glam reached out to ask if I'd like to try some of their gel polishes, this one was at the tippy top of my wish list! It's been a while since I did some gel nails, but I was feeling the itch again. It's nice to mix it up every now and then and I love how invincible my nails feel with gel polish on--no worrying about chips or cracks!

Hot Hot Hot is a very unique shade: a thermal polish that goes from a poppy red shade to a warm orange when you expose it to heat. And the best part? It's got lots of silver glitter in it too! Because everything is better with extra sparkle!

Here's how the polish looks normally...

...and then here's what it changes to with heat. Please excuse the complete change in lighting here. I took these pictures at my bathroom sink so I could photograph my hands fresh out of warm water.

 

 

For the sake of completion, I wanted to throw in a shot of Hot Hot Hot mid-change too.

I could not stop staring at this polish. It's so much fun and I can't help but feel a teensy bit happier when I look at it. It's like a little dose of summer on my nails in the midst of all this terrible wind and snow.

I paired this shade with all Red Carpet Manicure products (base coat, top coat, lamp, etc.) and it worked great. I applied two coats of Hot Hot Hot for this mani. I was definitely impressed with how it went on. Gel polishes in general have thicker consistencies, but this one was still nice and workable. It even self-levels, which is super helpful when you're dealing with gels, as the thickness can sometimes result in bumpy, uneven application.

You can purchase Madam Glam from their website.


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

Twinsie Tuesday: Dotticure

TT is returning from holiday hiatus this week with dotticures! I must confess I spent a good deal of time thinking of how to cheat my way out of this one, but in the spirit of the new year, I decided to give it the old college try instead...

...aaannddd of course that ended in a string of spectacular failures. I tried the bandaid method and turned out the holes aren't big enough...and my nails weren't dry enough. I tried doing sharpie dots and that actually came out great, until I put the top coat on and it completely destroyed everything. I debated using a dotting tool, but I find them terribly frustrating and by this point I just wanted to have presentable-looking nails, so...I cheated. *sigh of shame*

Enter Deborah Lippmann I'm Not Edible. This polish uses the exact color scheme and aesthetic I was trying to create on my own: pastel pink base with little black polka dots.

I feel guilty for not doing a proper dotticure but I'm hoping the cute polish will be penance enough. I'm looking forward to a new year and new challenges with TT! Hopefully you'll join us along the way for 2016. :)

                        

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Alice at Nail Art in Wonderland

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

Claire at Kerruticles

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Marisa at Polish Those Nails

Megan at A Beauty in the Business

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Sara at The Call of Beauty

Sarah at Cloudy with a Chance of Lacquer

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Sharon at Behind Green Eyes

Steph at Lovestruck Lacquer

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

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. :)

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?

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

Alice at Nail Art in Wonderland

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

Claire at Kerruticles

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Marisa at Polish Those Nails

Megan at A Beauty in the Business

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Sara at The Call of Beauty

Sarah at Cloudy with a Chance of Lacquer

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Sharon at Behind Green Eyes

Steph at Lovestruck Lacquer

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

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.

Twinsie Tuesday: China Glaze It's A Trap-eze!

Hey guys! It's been a minute, right? I know I've been an awful blogger lately, but I'm trying to get back in the swing of things. So what better way than Twinsie Tuesday? :)

This week we're doing manis inspired by our favorite foods. I looooooovvvveee eating, so this was a tough pick for me, hahahaha. But I decided to go with one of my very favorite desserts. Can you guess what it is from which polish I picked?

It's funfetti cake! I know, I know, it's not the most sophisticated choice, but I can't get enough funfetti, especially the frosting!

The polish is China Glaze It's A Trap-eze!, which I thought was the perfect representation since it's got a white base filled with multi-colored glitter. It's A Trap-eze! looked kinda messy with the first few layers, but it all came together nicely in the end. Most of my nails only needed three coats, but a couple needed four to even out some bald patches.

Please excuse the cut on my index finger. I nicked it at work last week and it's taking its sweet time healing. Flesh wounds aside, I hope you enjoyed today's post and that you'll check out my fellow Twinsies today too!

                        

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Alice at Nail Art in Wonderland

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

Claire at Kerruticles

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Marisa at Polish Those Nails

Megan at A Beauty in the Business

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Sara at The Call of Beauty

Sarah at Cloudy with a Chance of Lacquer

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Sharon at Behind Green Eyes

Steph at Lovestruck Lacquer

Tiffany at Polished To Precision