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: Ruffian Manicure

We're doing ruffian manis this week! I haven't done one of these in a while, so I thought I'd try something a little different this time. I've got these plain black Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail wraps that I haven't known what to do with. Unfortunately I no longer have the original packaging so I don't know what this design is called. I got these in a set from Target a long time ago and these are the only ones from the set I still have left, because honestly, I don't quite get the point of plain nail wraps. I like wearing them for the fun and intricate designs. If I wanted black, I'd wear black polish, ya know?

But I digress. My point is, i figured now was as good a time as any to use these wraps. I layered them over a base of Orly Key Lime Twist, a neon highlighter yellow, to create the ruffian design. The wraps had dried up a bit, so they were more stuff and brittle than usual, but they still got the job done!

I always love a good pop of neon! The nail wraps made it easy to get a smooth, even curve. I think it'd be a lot of fun to do this same concept with one of the fancier Salon Effects too.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to check out my Twinsies too!

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Steph at Lovestruck Lacquer

Sharon at Behind Green Eyes

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Sarah at Cloudy with a Chance of Lacquer

Sara at The Call of Beauty

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Megan at A Beauty in the Business

Marisa at Polish Those Nails

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Lisa at The Polish Playground

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Claire at Kerruticles

​ 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

Alice at Nail Art in Wonderland

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Sally Hansen Lady Libra-ty

I've got one of the Sally Hansen Beachside Astrologer shades for you guys today! This was one of the standout collections of the year for me so far and has really reignited my love for the Complete Salon Manicure line. Lady Libra-ty is a pastel blue creme. It's got a slightly muted quality to it that I just adore.

Really nice formula on this one. I used three coats here. Definitely pick up Lady Libra-ty if you are in the mood for an all-around fantastic creme!

Beautiful blues like this are one of the things that initially drew me to the CSM line. Barracuda, Model Behavior... What are some of your favorite CSM shades? Other than the aforementioned blues, I'd nominate Frutti Petutie and Stocking Nude!

Sally Hansen Gemincello

As a Gemini with a fondness for pastel yellow, Sally Hansen Gemincello was a must-have for me. Gemincello is a buttery yellow creme that came out in the Beachside Astrologer Collection earlier this year. I wore it with a dash of Urban Decay Goldmine as an accent nail, because I was craving some sparkle with this mani.

The formula is surprisingly non-streaky for a pastel, but it still needs three coats for complete opacity. There were some visible bubbles in the bottle and the consistency is on the thinner side, so make sure you give this one a good shake or roll before applying so those issues don't transfer over to the nail.

I will add that I was impressed with how nicely Goldmine applied, especially for a mini bottle. It's only the second UD polish I've tried, but I really like what I've seen from their polishes!

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

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: Mattify

I am not the biggest matte fan, but it's still a fun finish to play around with every now and again. For today's mattify theme, I thought it'd be fun to do something with a bright shade. So I paired Sally Hansen Poppin' Paprika (another beauty from the Amanda files) with my favorite matte top coat, Jamberry Matte Top Coat.

Welp, I gotta run. My boss' boss' boss is coming to my work today, and guess who gets to oversee the visit? Think good thoughts for me!

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

Twinsie Tuesday: Watercolor Nails

Just a quick post from me today. I'm writing this at about 1:00 in the morning (what can I say, I'm a massive procrastinator), so I'm pretty beat! We are supposed to do watercolor nails for Twinsie Tuesday this week, but I kinda-sorted-totally cheated and just used some Sally Hansen nail wraps I happened to have lying around. I picked these puppies up on clearance a while back and they fit perfectly with this challenge! The design is called Spot On.

If you've never tried Sally Hansen's nail wraps, I can't recommend them highly enough! They work just as well as more expensive ones I've tried before and they have so many fun designs. I love the spring colors in this one--super cute!

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

Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Orange You Glad?

I'm home visiting family this weekend, so I thought some nail wraps would be a good choice for the trip. I recently picked up a whole bunch of Sally Hansen Salon Effects (some of my favorite nail wraps) on clearance. It's extremely rare for me to pay full price for nail wraps, given that I like to change my polish so often, but I always try to stock up when I find them on sale. I think these only set me back like 99 cents!

This design, Orange You Glad?, is a creamsicle orange base with darker orange snakeskin detailing. I love this fun, colorful twist on a snakeskin pattern!

So far, the wear seems typical to my experience with Sally Hansen wraps--some visible tipwear on the first day, then near-ironclad durability from there on out. I didn't wear topcoat this time (the wraps have a smooth, shiny finish all on their own), but when I do, the wear is even better!

Born Pretty BP-03 Stamping Plate: Review & Swatches

I've got another Born Pretty stamping plate for you today! Now, I want to start by saying this is only my second time doing any stamping, ever. But it already felt worlds easier than my first attempt and I even felt confident enough to try a full mani! I'm not saying I'm good at stamping--far from it--but I'm getting better, so I guess that's something at least.

Anyways, on the the actual plate! This design, BP-03, doesn't really have a unifying theme to it. There are roses, kitties, stars...so, cute stuff, I guess?

 

The whole reason I wanted to try this plate was for the little kitty on the bottom right. So I was super bummed when I couldn't get him to stamp on my nails. I could easily pick up the whole design on my stamper, but when I tried to stamp it onto my nails, I couldn't get it to transfer right. I would either get just half of the design or if I did get the entire cat, it came out super light. I tried stamping it with three different polishes and none of them worked. I felt like maybe that particular design was almost engraved into the plate too shallow, if that makes sense? Or it could just be good ol' user error due to my inexperience. If any of you stamping aficionados would be able to share some insight in the comments, I'd love it! :)

So that mini-rant aside, I did have good luck with the rose designs on this plate and I did a whole mani theme around that. It's not going to be the best stamping you've ever seen, but I think it's not awful for a second attempt!

My base here was Sally Hansen Wet Cement and then I used Essie No Place Like Chrome for the stamping. I probably should have used a color other than silver, since it doesn't really pop over the grey, especially in photos. :-/

I was disappointed in my lack of cat nail art, but my overall exprience with this plate was more good than bad. I want to try something with the stars next!

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

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

KBShimmer Spot Sign

KBShimmer Spot Sign sounded like one of the most creative and innovative polishes to come out of the indie polish community in a long time. Yeah, it has black circles and silver holo microglitter, which is all well and good, but the big selling point on this polish is that it has leopard spot-shaped glitter--yes, that's apparently a thing now! Why was this not invented sooner?!

As someone who has always wanted to do a leopard print mani but doubts my ability to actually pull it off, Spot Sign was super intriguing to me. Unfortunately, I found that while it's an absolutely fantastic idea on paper, the execution left something to be desired. Take a look and see what you think. Here's Spot Sign over Sally Hansen Fuchsia Power.

Part of the problem I had with Spot Sign is the formula. I used two coats here and I probably could have used a third to get more of the leopard spot effect with this polish. There is a lot of clear base with this polish; the glitter is pretty sparse, especially the leopard spots. When I actually did fish out some spots, they seemed to always be stuck together. So I'd have to try and pull the interlocked glitter pieces apart and then it was tricky to guide the spots where I wanted them to go. I guess this polish could work better if you were to fish out the spots one at a time and then place them with a toothpick or something, but I wanted my swatches to show you how Spot Sign applies without any special tricks.

So yeah, this polish was sort of a letdown for me. :( I love the concept behind it so much that I'm willing to play around with Spot Sign some more to see if I can get it to look the way I want it to. I just wish it was easier to work with.

You can purchase KBShimmer from their website.

Brie Mode Nails

So I confessed to you guys in the latest Twinsie Tuesday post that my boyfriend and I are pro wrestling fans. Yes, it's kinda dumb and I know it's "fake," but I love the spectacle and theatricality of it. It's like a superhero cartoon come to life.

Well, tonight, we are going to our very first live WWE event--the RAW show in Detroit--and of course my nails had to be decorated for the occasion! I had a lot of ideas on what I wanted to do, but ultimately I decided to do some nails inspired by one of the WWE Divas (a.k.a. lady wrestlers), Brie Bella:

 

I have a lot of thoughts on how the WWE treats their women's matches (hint: it's mostly not good), which I won't bore you with here, but Brie seems like a cool chick and she's one of my favorite Divas. One of her signatures is when she's setting up a big move in the ring, she climbs on the ropes and yells out "Brie Mode," almost like she's powering up:

 

Trying to explain it makes me realize how dumb it sounds, but I digress. Long story short, I made some Brie Mode nails in Brie's signature colors of red, white and black. Enjoy.

My thumbs, which you can't see here, are just plain ol' Rimmel Black Satin, then my red is OPI Over And Over A-Gwen. I did the lettering with a white Sally Hansen nail striper. My bf actually took this picture for me, so a big thanks to him! The B and the R were definitely the hardest parts, especially since I had to write them with my non-dominant hand. I had to re-do the R a couple times and then it had the audacity to smear when I applied topcoat over it, but other than that, I think this came out pretty decently. 

There were a few awkward moments at work when a couple people asked what was on my nails and I'd sheepishly change the subject, because I haven't 100% embraced the whole "why yes, I'm a college-educated woman who will publicly admit to loving professional wrestling" thing.

Sally Hansen Stocking Nude

My boyfriend and I went to a comic con over the weekend, where I cosplayed as Daenerys Targaryen from A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones. (Sooo much fun!! This was our first con together and even though it was super crowded, we still had an awesome time. I could have just stood around and people-watched all day there.) So of course, my nails had to be part of the costume as well. Since the Khaleesi probably doesn't have access to nail polish while she's roaming deserts and conquering cities, I kept it really simple with a clean, crisp nude: Sally Hansen Stocking Nude.

This beauty was a part of last year's collaboration with Rodarte for the Complete Salon Manicure line. I fell in love with it after seeing swatches online, but I couldn't find it at any of my usual polish haunts. Thankfully I was able to snag it at retail pricing on Ebay!

The formula is lovely and only needs two coats for full opacity. The CSM brush has always been a little wife for my tastes, but damn if their formulas aren't some of the best in the business!

What are you up to this weekend? After our con, the bf and I got together with some friends for an early "Thanksgiving" meal and we all are waaaaayyyy too much food! So worth it though. :)

Twinsie Tuesday: Favorite Sports Team Manicure

Hockey is the only sport I really follow, so that made this week's TT theme a no-brainer. Hockeytown is one of Detroit's many nicknames, after all, so we are big into hockey here and I've been watching Red Wings games with my dad for as long as I can remember. My boyfriend and I don't have cable, so I can't watch games as often as I would like anymore, but I make sure to catch them whenever I'm home visiting my family!

Now, the Wings' logo is a winged wheel, but there's no way in hell I can draw that, so I decided to go the simpler route of the classic symbol of Detroit--and by extension, its sports teams--the Old English D.

I did an Old English D manicure a while back our hometown-inspired manis, but the Wings-style D is a little different. Detroit's baseball team, the Tigers, use a traditional Old English D, but when the Wings wear Old English D's (such as on their throwback jerseys for the Winter Classic games), it usually looks like this:

 Of course, since this is a Red Wings manicure, I had to use some red polish. So I started with a base of OPI Coca-Cola Red (gorgeous red, by the way) and then used a white Sally Hansen nail striper for the D.

So yeah, not the most elaborate mani ever, but hopefully it gets the point across. Be sure to take a look at my Twinsies' sports manis this week too! I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess that I'll be the only one who chooses a hockey team this week, but you never know! ;)

​

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace
Anna at Going to the Showing
Bridget at A Painted Nail

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

​Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision​

Sally Hansen Morrac-go

My feelings about brown polish are pretty well-documented here on Nailed, but every now and then I do get in the mood to wear some brown. It'll never be my favorite, but it is fun to try on sometimes! So yesterday I decided to go with a brown that's unlike anything I've ever worn before: Sally Hansen Morrac-go.

This is a warm-toned, almost terracota-esque shade from the brand's Insta-Dri line that I got from the always-wonderful Amanda. I was kinda intimidated by it in the bottle, but once I put it on, I liked it! One of the many nice things about swapping polish with someone is sometimes they introduce you to shades that push you out of your comfort zone. :)

Morrac-go is a one-coater, although I did use two coats to try and cover up a little bubbling on my ring and middle fingers from not letting my basecoat dry all the way before I started applying polish over it. (Oops!) The Insta-Dri brush isn't my favorite, but I gotta say, Sally Hansen's formulas are almost always on point. It's been a while since I wore a Sally Hansen but Morrac-go made me remember just what a fantastic line it is. I truly think they rival the more expensive lines in terms of quality and color variety.

What are some of your favorite Sally Hansen's? I'm a fan of their Complete Salon Manicure line in particular, so Frutti Patutie and Model Behavior are two of my favorites!

Twinsie Tuesday: Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Tribal It On

This week's Twinsie Tuesday theme features my nail art nemesis: stripes. For some reason, I have extreme difficulty drawing straight, even lines. I don't know why it's so hard for me, but it is!

So rather than make us all suffer through a terrible manicure with sad, lumpy stripes...I took the easy way out and cheated with some Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail wraps. I know, I know, I'm awful. But hey, at least the wraps look cool! This particular design, which features a black and white striped pattern, is called Tribal It On.

I love all the different interlocking stripe patterns here. Plus the fact that these wraps are in black and white really makes the intricacy of the design stand out. As usual with Sally Hansen, the quality of the wraps themselves is excellent and they were very easy to apply.

So that about wraps it up for this week's TT! Hopefully you enjoyed my post, even if it was a bit of a cop-out. ;) If you want to see some real striped manis, take a look at what my fabulous Twinsies created!

​

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace
Anna at Going to the Showing
Bridget at A Painted Nail

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

​Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision​

Twinsie Tuesday: Follower Requested Mani

As you may have seen on my blog or my Instagram, this week's Twinsie Tuesday had us turning to our readers for help coming up with our manis. Each Twinsie asked their followers to come up with suggestions for manicures they would like to see us try! It was super hard to pick, because I was sent some great ideas and I wish I could have found a way to incorporate them all into this mani (cheesy but true)!

In the end, I went with a suggestion I got on Instagram from @jennas_paws: a dry brush mani. I actually did a dry brush mani for a previous TT challenge and I really enjoyed playing with that technique, so I jumped at the chance to do it again! But I figured, why stop there? I was sure I could find another follower's idea to throw into the mix!

So follower and fellow Twinsie Amanda (I'm pretty sure she was the first person to follow me on Instagram, so I'm totally counting her!) also submitted the idea of creating "a mani that Oscar the Grouch's girlfriend would wear." How could I resist such a fun prompt? Also, I spent part of Memorial Day weekend reading while lounging outside on a Sesame Street beach towel--I am only two years older than this towel, true story--so that suggestion seemed weirdly on point to me, hahaha.

Now, in my mind, the grunge-y, distressed look of a dry brush mani fits perfectly with Oscar the Grouch--I mean, he lives in a trash can, after all! I tried to pick appropriate colors: silver for his trash can, black and green for Oscar himself, then bits of pink to feminize things a touch and bring the girlfriend aspect into play.

Black: Rimmel Black Satin
Silver: Sally Hansen Celeb City
Green: China Glaze Gaga For Green
Pink: OPI Hey Baby

When I finished this mani, my first thought was, "Uh...that doesn't look very pretty." I was going to re-do it, but then I thought, Oscar the Grouch's girlfriend wouldn't wear something pretty. She'd wear something that looked kinda rough and icky, because that's how she rolls.

Out of curiosity, I looked up if the character of Oscar's girlfriend actually exists, and she does! Meet Grundgetta:

 

 

Gotta love that unibrow! So yep, I think Grundgetta would totally rock the dirty-looking mani I created. ;)

Thank you to @jennas_paws and @amandalandish for their submissions this week! And check out what my Twinsies' followers cooked up for them to try too!

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Traci at DrinkCitra