What's Up Nails Fall Plates and Stencils Review

*press sample

Hello my spooky friends! I've created six seasonal/holiday looks with What's Up Nails new stamping plates and vinyl stencils. I have a range from super simple to more advanced stamping. So there's a little something for everyone. Enjoy!

UberChic Beauty Collection 23 Stamping Plates Review

*press sample

Hello ladies! I have another fabulous UberChic Beauty stamping plate collection to share with you today! Let's get straight to it...

UberChic Beauty Collection 15 Stamping Plate Review

I have another UberChic Beauty stamping plate post for you today! I never get tired of these because I always come up with one or two looks that I really love. This time though I really think I love every one! Let's see if you do too..

15 Gorgeous Green Nail Polishes for St. Patrick's Day

Green-tings lads and lasses! If you've been following my blog, you'll know that in the past I haven't been that big on green. But I think it's time to admit that I have been converted! I have so many STUNNING greens that haven't seen enough love, and what better time to share them, than this month for St. Patrick's Day? I have compiled a list of 15 fabulous shades which are a mixture of mainstream and indie polishes. Some of these are just what you'd expect for the holiday, but I've included a few unexpected shades as well. Enjoy!

31DC2016 Day 30: Staggered Gradient

Yassssss! The 31 Day Challenge is so close to being over! I wish I could say this month has just flown by but I felt like the end would never come. I've been looking forward to this day for another reason though. Today's prompt is "inspired by a tutorial" and I've anxiously waited to try this tutorial by My Simple Little Pleasures.

Hehe 076 Stamping Plate Review

*provided for honest review

Hey everyone! As promised I have another Hehe stamping plate to review for you. Like the 075 plate I reviewed  a few weeks ago, this is from the Plaids and Floral collection. This plate has some beautiful animal print images on it, and that's what I chose to show off for you today.

A England Order of the Garter Swatches and Nail Art

 *purchased by me

Hello there! I feel like it's been a while since I've posted (three days) because I've been so active on the blog this month. With the double holiday weekend I decided to spend more time with my family instead. Today I am sharing some swatches and stamping of A England Order of the Garter. This shade is part of the Legend collection and is a little different from the other A Englands I own.

Sweetheart And Ruffian Valentine Nails

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I really wanted to squeeze in one more nail art look for the holiday. Who knows, I may even do some more next week, haha. Last night I made the rookie mistake of running out of acetone. Because it was so late I had to go to two stores to find pure acetone. And naturally because the nail polish was in the vicinity I had to buy a bottle or two of pretties. I found this pretty soft pink and when I brought it home I wanted to use it right away. This A England polish was one of my untrieds and it's been sitting on my desk waiting for an excuse to be used. The two found their way to each other and this is what I ended up with.

A England Gradient Snowflakes

My first nail art of the new year! Well actually I did this mani about three weeks ago but haven't had any time to edit photos and write a post. I thought I was mostly prepared for the holidays but as usual I was wrong. Now that things have chilled out a little I am hoping to be more active on my blog!

This was the first time using my new A England Wuthering Heights and Cathy. I had swooned over photos of these polishes for months. Then I finally bought them and it still took a few weeks to try them out. Let me tell you, they did not disappoint! I'm still so, so in love. I had two different ideas for this mani, so I decided to try them both. 

Autumn Dotticure With Barry M Polishes

Happy Monday everyone! I have some super simple, yet oh so seasonally appropriate nail art for you today. I used a couple untrieds for this mani- Barry M Watermelon and Chili- that my mom brought back from London for me earlier this year. I asked her to get me some Barry M but didn't tell her which colors and those were the two she chose. They're not in my usual taste as colors go, but I really liked them once I tried them on! They go together so well too.

A England Crown of Thistles

Hiya! It's been quite some time since I've posted anything, I know. So this is me saying.. I'm back! I'm feeling a bit rusty, so I'm going to make this real short and sweet. I'm working on new content now, so here is one from my draft folder. Isn't it stunning?!!

A England Crown of Thistles is an amazing holographic purple. As usual with this brand, the formula is buttery smooth with no issues. One coat gives great coverage, for photos I used two coats, no top coat. Photos are in direct sunlight.

A England Rose Bower By Any Other Name

Today's Valentine mani is a departure from all the pink ones I've done of late. This romantic look features the beautiful a england Rose Bower. A england is a brand that makes such gorgeous polishes, you don't really want to wear anything else with them! I wanted to do a little nail art, but still keep it simple to show off Rose Bower in its full glory. 

Fall In Love: Indies I'm Wearing This Autumn

First things first, what do you think of my collage? I've been trying to figure out how to do more things in Photoshop without my husband's help. It may not be the best, but I'm so proud of myself for putting it together!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating tomorrow! Before Autumn is figuratively over and we get into the full swing of Christmas season, I wanted to show you some of my favorite seasonally appropriate polishes that I've been wearing. I have for you five gorgeous shades from five different amazing indie brands. Let's take a look!

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Tiptoe Through the Tulips With MoYou Stamping

Last week I got my MoYou London prize in the mail! I won it in a trivia contest they had on Twitter. I love trivia, so the prize was more of an afterthought. That is, until I won it. I was totally giddy about getting to choose from their Pro Collection stamping plates. I chose the XL 14 plate specifically for the tulip pattern. When I asked on my facebook page which stamp from the plate I should do first, the tulips was the first response, which is what I wanted to do anyway!

Ruffian With A England Ascalon and Barielle Soho at Night

I have a quick and dirty post for all you lovelies today. My "schedule"(I say that to give you the impression that I'm actually organized) has been a little off lately, so I grabbed some photos that have been hanging out in my draft folder. Enjoy!

What I used:
Barielle Soho at Night- deep plum creme
a england Ascalon- holographic steel gray and lavendar duochrome
Sally Hansen Dries Instantly top coat

I hope you're all having a fabulous Friday! Have a great weekend. :)

My Favorite Polishes Right Now for Winter

A few months ago I made a post of polishes I was wearing in Autumn. I thought now would be a good time to do a post for ones that I'm enjoying this season. Today was actually unusually warm (64 degrees!), so it's about time I get this posted before Winter is over! Believe you me, I am not at ALL sad to see Winter fade away. I will, however, miss wearing my best Winter-appropriate polishes.


Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Quick Jeanius

2 coats, plus top coat. This is the same base polish that I used on a stamping post a couple weeks ago. It's so rich and deep and glowy. The brush is bulky, but the polish still applied well. I think it was on sale at Target for about $4?

OPI Every Month is Octoberfest

2 coats, plus top coat. I reeeally thought this would photograph better! Boo. It's such a beautiful polish, I didn't do it justice. Just trust me, if you don't own this polish or one very similar, you should. Oh, I also wanted to point out that I didn't touch up my polish after application. Yes, I painted it that perfectly. Sometimes you have to be proud of your small accomplishments because there's not always going to be big ones. This retails for $9.50.

a england Saint George

2 coats, plus top coat. Ooo, isn't it gorgeous?! I feel like the base of the shade is emerald, but the beautiful holographic shimmer makes it lean more teal. I love this brand. The polishes are all so beautiful and they apply like butter. If only I had more monies so I could buy them all! I purchased mine from Ninja Polish for $10.

 Wet n Wild Fergie Ferguson Crest Syrah

2 coats, plus top coat. Again, the photos aren't doing proper justice. This polish has such a beautiful glow that isn't as visible in the photos. This is such a pretty polish for such a small price. I purchased it at Walgreens for a couple bucks I think.

 Sephora by OPI Son of a Gun

3 coats, plus top coat. This is a really sheer polish so I needed 3 coats and maybe 4 would have been better for photos. I love how this shade is so unique. It's a gunmetal gray, with a green tint, mixed with a blue tint. The complexity makes it so pretty. The whole Sephora by OPI brand is discontinued so I'm sad that I only have a mini bottle of it. Maybe I can unearth one at Big Lots if I'm lucky.

Are these the kind of shades you have been wearing lately? What is your Winter go-to?
Well Winter, it's been real. Now I'm ready for SPRIIIIIIINNG!!!! (picture me singing out that last part like Gene Kelly in "Singing in the Rain".)

Christmas Leopard Print

Well December is finally here. I'm not a crazy-about-Christmas kind of person, but I couldn't resist starting off the month with a wild Christmas leopard print mani. I have a lot more Christmas themed ideas that I really hope turn out! Christmas or not, I am really feeling the winter vibe now. Although I'm not happy about the freezing temperatures, I really enjoy focusing on different colors with the changing seasons.

The base color is two coats of OPI Bagota Blackberry. I have been wanting to buy this polish for years. I seriously don't know what took me so long, but I finally bought it last month! I don't regret it, I think it's gorgeous. For the gold dots, I used OPI Liquid Sand Honey Ryder, and painted the color on straight out of the bottle. Since I used a top coat you don't get to see the texture of the polish in all of its glory, but the color is still so pretty. With a small dotting tool I applied A England Saint George around the gold dots.

I think this looks like velvet. Like a fluffy velvety bathrobe that a flamboyant grandpa would wear.

What I used:
OPI Bagota Blackberry
A England Saint George
OPI Liquid Sand Honey Ryder

What do you think? Too wild, or just enough?

Birthday Haul and Formula X for Sephora Swatches

Yay for birthdays and presents!! Here's a shout out to my friends and family who gave me nail polish or cash/gift cards, that obviously went to buying nail polish. So let's see what I got!

 Formula X for Sephora left to right: Heroic, Dusk, Chaotic 

Left to right: OPI Liquid Sand Honey Ryder, OPI Underneath the Mistletoe, Essie Carry On

Zoya left to right: Zuza, Arizona, Opal, Sailor, Seraphina, Hunter

Left to right: Contrary Polish Sand, PiCture POlish Freya's Cats, PiCture POlish Ocean, 

A England Saint George (these four purchase through Llarowe.)

It would have been a little insane to swatch all of these for you guys, so I just went with three. I decided on the Formula X for Sephora polishes because it's a recently launched brand and you might  not be as familiar with those yet. On a similar note, this whole time I have been referring to them as "Sephora X". There was originally a Sephora X brand, and this Formula X has replaced it. I mislabeled it in my Formula X for Sephora Legend post (it's fixed now). I apologize for the confusion!! Next time if you notice something questionable, just give my head a good whack.

Formula X for Sephora Heroic: 2 coats, with topcoat

Described as lilac and gold metallic, Heroic is from Formula X's "Shifters" category. Another from the category is Legend that I swatched last month. Unlike Legend which only has the glitters that shift, Heroic has more of a duochrome quality.
I like that it has a silvery appearance, but actually contains gold flecks. The coverage looked great in person with only two coats. For the photos you can tell that I probably should have used three, but they looked fine to the naked eye. Retails for $12.50.

Formula X for Sephora Dusk: 2 coats, with topcoat

Dusk is part of the "New Classics" category. It's described as "sunset red pearl", which I guess isn't necessarily misleading, depending on your interpretation of "sunset". I would describe it as a pearly brick color, or even burnt red with pearl finish.
Whatever it is, it fills a gap in my stash, because I don't have another color like this. The application was really smooth, with good coverage in even just one coat. Retails for $10.50.

Formula X by Sephora Chaotic: 1 coat, with topcoat.

Shown over 1 coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Rose Rum. Chaotic is part of the "Xplosives Top Coats" catergory. It is packed with multi-sized black and white glitters in a clear base. I believe there are five sizes of hex glitter in both black and white, as well as black bar glitter.
I was really surprised how much glitter stuck to the brush! As you can see, quite a big glitter payout. Retails for $12.50

What do you think of the Formula X polishes so far? Are there any other polishes from my haul you would like to see swatched?

31DC2013 Day 20: Water Marble

Today is the dreaded water marble day. Ug. I think these colors look fantastic. The rest.. didn't turn out so well. I have a number of complaints here. Before we get into that, let's just look at the pretty colors. Oooooo..

Once again, this is another first for me. Typically when I have been trying new techniques, I sort of just jump right in. This time I knew I had to depend on a tutorial to help me out. To prepare, I watched a couple of videos from the Queen of water marbling. Apparently I did not watch enough videos to have a good idea of how to do it.

Once I choose my colors I was pretty dead set on using them together. After not being able to get them to expand well in the water, I just decided to work with them best I could. It was too late at night to be changing the game plan. Some polishes started drying faster than the others. So I have broken gaps especially noticeable on my ring finger.

I'm not happy with how this turned out, but I'm not discouraged. There are way too many successful water marbles out there for me to give up. I want to try again! I need to figure out what polishes work well, and a few other questions I had.
 Even with how sloppy and broken this is, I love that water marbles still always look unique. No one else has one that looks just like this! Want to know my favorite part about this? It was the quickest manicure I've done this whole Challenge!

What I used:
OPI Live and Let Die-deep green
Zoya Bevin- sage
A England Holy Grail-gold

Have you done successful water marbling? What polishes have worked for you?