Nail Mail + A Dollarama Find

NAIL MAIL!!

Cult Nails has been having some really good promos lately, I took part in the buy 3 polishes, get one free deal last month, my pics included;

Be Loco - a bright, orange leaning coral creme

Blazed - a orange coper glitter in a clear base

Riot - a bright teal creme

Flushed - a medium purple with a duochrome shimmer which flashes from magenta to green

Be Loco and Riot were only one coat in my swatches! Blazed and Flushed required two coats for full opacity. Super awesome new additions to my collection :) As always the formula is flawless.

Another random polish I purchased recently is from Dollarama is Nicole by OPI, Brilliant Idea.

2 coats for swatch above

This glitterbomb is packed with bright swampy green minro and hex glitter. It reminds me of a lighter version of China Glaze It's Alive from their 2011 Haunting Halloween collection. I immediately needed this polish to make a glitter gradient :) hopefully I will get to it before October is over!

Hot Lava!

Happy, Happy Friday! Such a perfectly fall polish today, for a sunny breezy fall day.

Sally Hansen Lava is apart of the Lustre Shine collection and is the only foily finish polish. In the bottle the duochrome looks super cool, at first glance I notice a pink copper and yellow gold. On the nail it is so much more than I expected it to be! Since It appeared more of a red/pink base, I wasn't sue how wearable it would be for me, I hardly wear any reds and a pink shimmer/foil is usually not my thing. But it was too pretty not to buy!

I used three coats on my nails, two coats were fine to build up for opacity but I added a third to smooth everything out. On my nails I see a flash from pink, copper, orange, gold and yellow, unlike anything in my collection and I love it! the perfect shade for fall, reminds me of the changing leaves.

After 3 full days of wear in indirect natural lighting

I am super duper fall and halloween inspired lately, I don't even care that it's not October yet! Already started watching horror movies and baking fall treats last weekend and intend on doing the same this weekend. I even picked up a baby pie pumpkin this week :) Cant wait to make him in to something yummy!

New Fan Created Bundle Monster Plates!

It's official, the fan created Bundle Monster nail design plates are now available and for an awesome price! 26 plates with over 150 designs to choose from for only $16.50! I am super excited about this collection, so many amazing designs were chosen, if I had known how detailed you could go I would have submitted some more intricate designs myself.

Some of the designs I submitted were lucky enough to be included in this set, so exciting! Although I have not received my set yet, I thought I'd show you my contribution to the latest collection. I have highlighted my designs below

Nautical full nail stripy design

Plate BM-408, alternating circles and faux glitter ;)

Plate BM-420,  corset design

I will defiantly have a more in depth post on the full collection when I finally receive them, feels like it has taken forever!

What do you think about the new fan collection? Were any of your designs chosen? Which designs are your favorite?!

Illusions

So I wanted a quick and easy update to my current mani of Nabi Hologram Teal and I decided, as usual, to do some stamping. I pulled out my Red Angel plates and decided on an abstract full nail graphic from plate RA-114.

I stamped with Sally Hansen 10 Day No Chip in Blackberry and sealed with Ask Cosmetics topcoat, which I am loving lately! Short and sweet post today. I think my manis going forward will start to be halloween themed, I am so pumped for October this year :)

Scattered

I have a lovely Nabi holo shimmer today that I purchased a few months back when it was still summer, for those of you who aren't aware, fall officially started on Sunday. I think I have finally moved on from summer, I am however not impressed with the earlier sunset :( Back to the polish at hand, Nabi Teal is a beautiful teal glitter holo, this particular polish appears to have a more scattered holo effect, still very beautiful though. From swatches I have seen of other other Nabi Hologram polishes the effect seems to vary.

I only needed two coats for full opacity. considering I didn't apply a holo base this polish applied fairly well. The first coat was a little tricky but the second evened everything out! It dried super fast, but to prolong wear I did add a thin layer of top coat. I have been wearing this for a week and have only experienced minor tip wear.

I really love this colour and the holo effect, even if it isn't a strong linear. I hope the blue Nabi Hologram polish I purchased is as beautiful as this one. I just may have to go pick up some more of these the next time I see them !

Blurple

Woo, it's Friday!

This is what happens when I have a few minutes to kill... Funky gradient nails! I used the foilly duochrome from my last mani, Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in All A Glow as a base and lightly dabbed the tips with another Polish from the same collection, Tender Teal.

I used a cosmetic sponge to apply Tender Teal to the tips of my nails. for the first layer I applied only Tender Teal to the sponge and sponged lightly on the nail. For the second and third round over coverage, I added All a Glow to the sponge as well to blend the two polishes together and make for a smoother gradient from one shade to the other.

I love quick and easy ways to add new life to an old mani :)

Pre Fall Haul

Happy Friday! The stat of the fall season is just over a week away, hard to beleie summer is almost over right :(

I picked up a few shades of polish within the last few weeks to get me in the fall spirit. First I made a stop at Cosmo Prof, which  to my surprise was having a sale on China Glaze and OPI! I picked up china Glaze Scattered and Tattered and OPI Peace, Love and OPI.

Ok, so the China Glaze is not really a fall shade and was released earlier this year but I am really living these black matte mixed glitters. Scattered and Tattered has black and rose coloured glitter in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Peace, Love ad OPI is such a chameleon! I want to say the base is a grey based blue. This polish shifts shades between blue, pink and green! In Cosmoprof I was really wowed, the lighting made it look super cool! When I got home the colour shift don't look as strong, however I think it will be more visible once on the nail. This is also supposedly a dupe for the new Essie shade For the Twill of It which I came across shortly after my purchase of this polish.

Next I have some more duochromes from Sally Hansen, Lava and Copperhead.

Lava is the only polish from the Lustre Shine collection that is made up of glass flecked shimmer and has a foil finish. This beauty changes from a deep red based orange to a bright copper shade.

Copperhead is one of those ugly pretty colours. Very fall in my opinion, the colour shift in the bottle reminds me of the leaves in fall. The colour shifts from a shimmery brown to a teal green.

Did you purchase and polishes from any new fall collections? What are your favourite colours for fall?

All A Glow - Pic Heavy!

My first fall-ish shade of the season! Although fall is still technically a few weeks away, I needed to transition from the bright sumer shades I have been wearing to something a little more seasonal. I was sorting through my untrieds and came across a grape shade that I picked up at Dollarama last year. Sally Hansen Diamond Strength All a Glow, is a purple toned foil with a light duochrome. The subtle change from  deep plum, magenta and copper is so pretty! The shimmery flecks alter the overall appearance of the polish in different lighting.

My pictures just do not do this polish justice at all, this is one of those polishes you just have to see in person to really appreciate. The bottle makes the duo chrome effect appear a lt stronger (more copper) however, on the nail it flashes more purple/magenta.

The three polishes I have from the Sally Hansen 2012 Diamons Strength limited edition collection  remind me of the old Sally Handen HD polishes, the second collection. I thought they would apply the same, thin and sheer needed multiple coats to build up opacity but I was pleasantly surprised I only needed two coats for full opacity.

It's Electrifying!!

A quick post for a quick mani refresh. I originally wanted to do a design in an bold navy blue, but all the navy blues I own were not the greatest for stamping, so I chose white, adding a slight contrast from China Glaze Sunkissed. For some reason the shimmer is not too visible in the photos, so I included a recap of what Sunkissed looks like on its own below.

I went with Bundle Monster plate BM-222 which is a full nail pattern of lightening bolts. I love this! Super loud and bright. I chose Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Whirlwind White to stamp with.

Please excuse the dry skin and the lighting that makes it appear worse! I will be doing a review shortly on a product that saved my dry cuticles in  only one application!

Sun Kissed

Are you ready for fall...  the weather has been beautifully fall like with bright sun and a cool breeze. We were lucky enough, however to have one last hot day be able to open our pool for probably the last time this summer. 

I have had China Glaze Sun Kissed on my desk all summer long waiting for the right moment to wear it. I think I actually put it away last week since I knew I would be getting in to fall colours. One last go at summer polish! I chose this bright shimmery yellow neon because I will be running a 5K on Friday at night with lots of black lights and glowy bracelets and what have you. I figured this would stand out the best at night when compared to a super fall shade.

in the sun

I applied two coats for full opacity. That's right, its yellow AND neon and I only needed two coats! I really love the formula of China Glazes summer collation from last year. I feel like the shimmer really helps in application and wear of the polish when compared to a straight up neon shade. Like most other neons this polish dried to a matte/satin finish, I added a coat of Seche Vite on top for a glossy shine.

in the sun

(new led) lamp light

This polish is in your face bright! ESPECIALLY when in the sun, which we are having a lot of lately :) Bright neon shades are also a great option for short nails, especially when it's obnoxious as a neon yellow! In the above and below photo I am trying out a new lamp my boyfriend got me for doing my nails, it is LED and has a magnifier. He got it especially for painting my nails :) Isn't he the bestest?!

(new led) lamp light

I got a good variety of shots in a few different light sources to showcase the pretty shimmer in this polish. The photos still don't do it the full justice it deserves.

camera flash

There was a time when I thought I would NEVER wear yellow polish, but I am really loving this shade. It's a feel good, happy inducing colour :) I can't wait to do some nail art on top!

Spotted

I chopped my nails off! It started off and a trim, but decided to go short due to a break in my middle finger from a few weeks back. My nails have also been super dry, peely and brittle lately, so this should go e them a bit of a break.

One of the best polish options, in my opinion, for short nails is a glitter. I find it helps to distract from the length especially if your nail height varies for a few nails due to breaks. I chose one of my latest polish purchases, back in late July, Maybelline Drops of Jade. This is apart of their polka dot collection consisting of black and white matte glitter suspended in various coloured jellies. Also included in this collection is a black and white matte glitter suspended in a clear base.

I applied two coats, blotting along the nail bed for the first coat and swiping on the second. The formula was surprisingly good to work with, the glitter was distributed well on each nail and I didn't have to fish for glitter.

It is also more opaque that I thought it would be, most jellies require at least 3 coats for opacity in most cases, if not more. I'm sure the glitter helps to camouflage a bit. Overall I am very happy with this polish, this is what I needed to brighten my mood after I realized how short I went!