7.18.2013

Hit Polish Minty Fresh + Nail Art

Hello!

Today's post is a super pretty polish from a long time favorite indie shop of mine, Hit Polish. This one is called Minty Fresh. The formula was fantastic. I'm pretty sure this is 2 coats. I only wish that there was a little more glitter that came out on the brush so that it looked more like the bottle on my nail...but that's just me being picky. ;) I picked this up quite a while ago and I'm not sure that it's available currently. Rachel usually will bring back older polishes for a while so it may show up again!


Loooveeee.


I was feeling ambitious with my nail art skills one night so I decided to add to this mani with some scotch tape, OPI Fly and rhinestones. I was pretty happy with how it turned out. Other than the fact that my top coat kind of messed with the rhinestone's bling factor.



There are always so many new polishes to check out in Rachel's shop and she mostly sells minis at good prices and with an occasional sale here and there you can really go crazy without putting too much of a dent in your wallet. ;)

Are you loving Minty Fresh as much as I am?
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7.17.2013

Half Moon with Orly Luxe, Shimmer Julie, and China Glaze Creative Fantasy

*press sample*

Hi lovely readers!

The nails I am showing you today I am considering a borderline fail, simply for my choice of polish finishes I used to mix and match. Although I love all the colors on their own, I think that Orly Luxe (the gold) threw the whole thing off because it was competing with the glittery finish of Julie.

This was also my first time using french tip guides for nail art and I think that shows. haha But I have done quite a few other manis since then using them that have turned out a lot better. I will be blogging about those soon! 


I really liked my accent nail best since those 2 polishes play well together.

I got my french tip guides from Born Pretty Store in a set with a few different shapes. You can find those *here* for $2.39 and if you use code AMG10, you will get an extra 10% off that. Good deal!

Have you ever used french tip guides in an unconventional way for nail art?

*Product sent for review in exchange for my honest opinions.
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7.16.2013

Nabi Holo Dark Purple + Nail Art

Good morning!

There was recently some buzz in a polish group I am in about these holo polishes from Nabi. I was able to get 6 for about $20 with free shipping on Ebay. Good deal, I think! While these aren't linear, they are super sparkly and definitely shine in the sunlight.

This is Dark Purple in indirect sunlight. Second photo is with flash.



To add a little something to this mani, I scotch taped off the corners and painted China Glaze Sweet Hook with Sation Fake It Till You Make It on top. Love this glitter topper!



If you want to get your hands on some of these Nabi holos *here* is the link to the eBay seller I got mine from. There are other options to get more or less polishes in different listings.

What do you think of this holo from Nabi?
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7.15.2013

My July 2013 Ispy Glam Bag!

Hello again!

I am back with another post today, this time featuring the items I got in my Ipsy Glam bag. This is my second month with Ipsy and so far I am very happy with the selection of products being sent out each time. I have always held off on the many subscription boxes out there mainly because I didn't see the value of paying $10+ for tiny samples and the occasional full size product. Ipsy is all about deluxe samples and full size products for $10/month with coupon codes to use with each brand that Ipsy is using for the month, plus you get a cute little makeup bag each month as well! 

Let's get to my bag for July! The theme was Beach Beauty. You don't have to live near the beach to enjoy these products though...they are perfect the the summer season anywhere. The actual bag this month is a round, plastic case that's great for keeping things dry at the pool or beach and being able to see what's in the bag without too much digging. 


First up is a nail polish from Nailtini in Mai Tai. This is a tomato-y red creme and surprisingly I don't think I have anything else like it in my collection! I am sure I will be showing it in the near future here on the blog.

Next, is a chubby lip crayon from Pop Beauty in the shade Fuchsia Flirt. My favorite chubby pencils for lips are the Revlon Balm Stains but this isn't a stain so I am going to be interested to see how the wear time compares between the two. I really like the shade, it's a bright, almost pastel pink.


This is 2 swipes of the pencil.


Next up is an SPF for face that doubles as a moisturizer. Pretty straightforward, this is a deluxe sample that I think will get a lot of uses out of since it's just for the face.


The next item in my bag is a beach spray from the Healthy Sexy Hair line. It's almost 2 ounces of product and since I don't think I will use this everyday it should last quite a while. I don't usually indulge in hair products so I am interested to see how this works on my hair which is fine with not a lot of natural wave. I like that this has a conditioning aspect to it, since most texture sprays tend to have a drying effect on hair.

And finally, there is this little eyeshadow sample palette from BH Cosmetics. There are 3 eyeshadows in here that are about the size of a nickle, maybe a little bigger.


The purple shade doesn't seem to be very pigmented (I did 3 swipes for the swatch below), the brown seems a little better and the gold was the most pigmented. I don't think I would wear these 3 together but I will be trying these with other color combos separately.


And that's it! A fun little package to get in the mail, right?


If you want to subscribe to an Ipsy Glam bag you can use my link to get you started *here*.

Tell me what you think of this month's Glam Bag!
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Lavender and Gold with a little Help from Born Pretty

*press sample*

Good afternoon!

Today I have some pretty simple nail art that is also really quick and easy to spice up a base color. These are the supplies I used to achieve it, both from Born Pretty Store.

I used the middle striping brush and the gold rhinestones. These rhinestones are sold separately come in all the colors shown below. These have a different look to them compared to rhinestones I have used in the past...I definitely like these better!


My base color also comes from Born Pretty, I really like this dusty lavender with all the gold shimmer. I have to say though, this sucker was pretty thick. I added some thinner to help make it more manageable. I then added stripes on my ring finger and a rhinestone at the base of my others.



These sort of remind me of wedding nails or something you would wear in the spring as opposed to the summer. :P

You can find all these products from Born Pretty Store:

-Striping brush set: http://www.bornprettystore.com/colors-nail-brush-ongle-liner-drawing-line-paint-p-25.html
- Rhinestones: http://www.bornprettystore.com/100pcs-15mm-colorful-rhinestone-acrylic-nail-colors-p-4995.html
-Polish: http://www.bornprettystore.com/fashion-color-shimmer-nail-polish-varnish-nail-p-6418.html

As always, code AMG10 will get you 10% off your order and there is free worldwide shipping!


*Products sent for review in exchange for my honest opinions.

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7.12.2013

A Mattified Glitter Mani

*press sample*

Hi guys!

Are you happy it's Friday?! I am...it's been a not so great week for me so I am hoping a fresh week will do some good!

I have always loved the look of glitter polish with a matte topcoat but when it comes down to me actually doing it I am torn by the idea of getting rid of all the pretty sparkle that is the whole point of wearing glitter. :P I got a few products to review from Born Pretty Store that I thought would go perfect together and so I took the plunge and mattified my glitter!


First, let's look at this polish in all it's glossy glory. This is a newer polish at Born Pretty from their "Yogurt" line...basically they are all milky glitters. I layered 2 coats over OPI Thanks a Windmillion.




And here it is with the matte top coat!  I was surprised at how cool this looked...I wasn't expecting it to be anything special but I was wrong. I have only used a couple kinds of matte top coats before and this one is definitely my favorite. It works fast and coats evenly in one coat.



Are you a fan of mattified glitter manis?

You can find the Yogurt polish *here* and the matte top coat *here*. 

As always, code AMG10 will get you 10% off your order!

*Products sent for review in exchange for my honest opinions.


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7.11.2013

Neon Sponge Gradient with Stamping

Hi polish friends!

I love summer for all the fun bright nail art looks we see everywhere. Today's mani takes full advantage of the season with a neon sponge gradient with some added stamping. Perfect for the bright sun and hot temps!



It's been a few weeks since I wore this, so I can't say I remember everything I used off the top of my head, but if you do have a question about any of that, I will do my best to answer!


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