Colors by Llarowe January 2016 Polish of the Month Winter's Dark Night

Skipping around, today I have the January Polish of the Month from Colors by Llarowe. This was released back in January, and is no longer available (sorry). The CbL polish of the month is available on the first day of month for preorder (it looks like they are now available for a 24 hour period) and then they are gone, though if you miss the preorder you can potentially find them at other stockists later-- I know I have picked up a couple from Harlow & Co in Canada when I missed have preorders in the past. The January polish is Winter's Dark Nights and it is described as a "charcoal black scattered holo base with intense purple sparkle shimmer."

Like most CbL polishes, Winter's Dark Nights had a good formula and was easy to work with. The first coat was a tad on the sheer side, as is common with these types of polishes, though still gave good coverage. Two coats was good, but with my wide/large nail beds I used three coats to get the coverage I wanted. I suspect most people could get away with two coats. If I remember correctly, this did dry down to a slightly matte finish, so you do need a top coat to make this sing!

My photos don't really do this justice, but this is a complex little guy. The purple shimmer adds an almost duochrome-like finish to the polish. It's really very pretty!

If you're interested in the CbL polishes of the month, the April one goes live tomorrow, April 1st, at 12pm MDT for 24 hours.

Chanel Vibrato

Yesterday I brought you a manicure I wore awhile ago-- today I have a more recent manicure (I wore this for Easter). Technically, the polish did come out awhile ago, but I am only just now wearing it. My Easter dress had a lot of coral in it, so I wanted something that contrasted. I decided that a bold, bright blue was the perfect remedy. The first polish that came to mind for what I wanted was Chanel Vibrato, which is one of two polishes from the Blue Rhythm collection released last August. Vibrato is a bold, vibrant cobalt blue creme.

Vibrato has an excellent formula. It goes on very smoothly and easily-- the formula was just perfect and very easy to work with. It's not quite a one-coat wonder; I didn't have completely even coverage on the first coat, but most people could probably get away with two coats. I added a third for good measure, though I didn't really need it but wide nail beds yadda yadda yadda.

Soooooo gorgeous! I could just stare at this blue for hours. Blues, and cobalt blues in particular, are my favorite, so this is just perfect on so many levels. For some reason my top coat looks a little scuffed up here, though in real life Vibrato was pretty shiny all by itself.

Sadly, Chanel just revamped their entire polish line and most of the really cool polishes they had are gone now (maybe to return one day, we can hope). Vibrato was a limited edition in any case, so it's probably going to be hard to find these days, as the more "out there" Chanel shades seem to be snapped up very quickly.

Girly Bits Selfie Bomb

Let's get our week started with some sparkle!! Of course, after a couple stellar weeks of posting, now I'm back to my old habits (and being tired) so I'm not on top of posting any more! (And things were pretty busy because it was Easter this past weekend, so I'm behind. We haven't even done our weekly grocery shopping yet, ack!) Today I have an oldie (but goodie) to share with you: Selfie Bomb, which was originally released in 2014 as part of the What Really Happened in Vegas Collection-- which is a collection that Pam puts out based on all the nail ladies getting together at CosmoProf in Vegas every year (well, so far there have been two of them). Anyway, on to the polish!

Selfie Bomb is described as a "sparkly gold holo micro glitter shimmer combination accented with pink and lavender microglitter." It certainly is sparkly! Because it's been awhile since I wore this, I think I used three coats to get the opaque coverage I wanted. It's no secret that I love a gold nail polish, and this hits all the right buttons. This was easy to apply and dried quickly, so no issues there!

I did wear this awhile ago in real life, but I still think it's awesome. Luckily, this polish is still readily available if you are craving something gold and sparkly! Because really, sometimes you just need to let your inner magpie (oooohh! shiny!) come out to play. Beautiful!

Mango Bunny Spring, Is That You?

Hey look, you're getting a few glitter polishes this week! Spring has sprung, I guess! Because spring officially started this week, it seemed like the perfect time to share this polish with you! Today I have Spring, It That You? which was from the January LE polish duo. This is the crelly half of the duo; there was also a glitter topper called Nope, Still Winter that I did not buy. I always feel like I never actually use glitter toppers, which is why I went for the crelly version.

Spring, Is That You? has a pale blue base, with a mix of springy glitters, including blue, pink, and purple ones! The formula of Spring, Is That You? was good. The first coat was a bit sheer, but it built up nicely. I used three coats here, and the glitter to base ratio was good-- I didn't have trouble getting enough glitter on my nail and it built up easily. No complaints here!

This is such a sweet looking polish! I think it's perfect for spring. It's soft and pretty and perfecgt for the season.

HPB Presents: Spring Watercolor Manicure

Look at me! Actually participating in a nail art challenge this month! This month, the Hobby Polish Bloggers decided on a spring themed mani for their monthly link up, so I decided to create a watercolor-type manicure using spring colors!

I used Enchanted Polish Winter (a light grey) as my base, and then used saran wrap to sponge on Reign Beau (teal), Disco H2O (cornflower blue), and Dope Jam (pink). This was a pretty easy manicure to do, but I had a couple of issues-- I think I got too heavy with Disco H2O, and that covered up too much of the teal Reign Beau. But I love the way the pink of Dope Jam looks over the others. I also should have used a latex barrier for my cuticles, because I was too afraid of getting polish all over my fingers and so I think some of the grey edges look a little funny to me.

In the end, this looks a bit muddy to me, but I still like it! I do think it has a watercolor feel to it, even though I wish the colors were a bit more separate. Ah well! I just need more practice! What do you think?

An InLinkz Link-up

Two-fer Tuesday Fairytale Finish Neverending Fairytales January 2016

Catching up, catching up! Today I have the January 2016 Neverending Fairytales sub box to share with you! The theme for this month was The Little Mermaid, which is perfect for Amanda because she is a huge mermaid fan! I mean, her labels feature a mermaid! Now, truth be told, I don't love The Little Mermaid. Quite honestly, I'm not even that big of a Disney fan, except I of course have a fondness for all the animated films and they were an integral part of my childhood experience. But despite that, I was looking forward to seeing how Amanda interpreted the movie into nail polishes and I was not disappointed!

Treasures Untold is a sheer grey base loaded with silver and grey glitters of various sizes and shapes. Despite the sheer base, this builds up very nicely and I used three coats here to make sure I had the coverage I wanted. This is a perfect grey for the currently very moody March weather in Seattle! Even though it's a monochrome shade, there's a lot going on and a lot of depth to this polish!

Wish I Could Be is a gorgeous deep teal jelly base with a mix of glitter; red, orange, yellow, and purple to name just a few! It's such unique color combination; I love it! Despite the jelly base, this was pretty opaque and I only needed two coats to get the coverage I wanted. This went on very nicely and the glitter had a nice distribution and I didn't have any trouble getting it on the nail.

I think Amanda really did a great job capturing the feel of The Little Mermaid and she makes fabulous glitter crelly polishes, so this was a win!

Sunny's Body Products Sweet Treats 2.0 Exclusive Box

(Quick note: I tried to get this up as soon as I could, but it looks like the box is already sold out/gone from the shop. Sorry!)

Oh yes, a new box from Sunny's Body Products! I have been eagerly anticipating this box since it was announced. This is a super sized box, which included 12 products-- including two brand new ones: lip scrub and dry spot healer. I have been especially excited for the lip scrub; it's no secret that I'm a huge fan of these products and I had even been thinking I would suggest a lip scrub as another product-- so I was super excited when she announced this was coming! Let's see what we got! 

First up, let's look at the lip products! I am a huge soda addict (well, I say pop instead of soda, but anyway) and so I was really anxious to see how I would like these scents. The Lip Balm is Dr. Pepper, which as it suggests, smells just like the drink! And it does! And here is the product that I have been waiting for: Lip Scrub! The scent of this one is Mountain Dew, which as advertised, smells just like the drink! Mountain Dew is probably my favorite kind of pop (aside from good old Coca-Cola) so it's probably no surprise that I freaking love this. It has a bright citrusy scent and a little goes a long way-- you don't need a lot. This left my lips feeling clean and smooth, but not dried out or raw.

Next up, let's check out the oils! The regular Cuticle Oil is Fruity Pepples, which is described as "sugary and sweet; smells just like the the yummy cereal!" And yes, yes it does. I could sit there and just huff this scent! This scent has me craving Fruit Loops and other sugary cereals and smells exactly like them! It has a nice tang to it to prevent it from being too sugary, and I looooooove it. The Intensive Cuticle Therapy is Sour Patch Kids which is described as "tart, tangy and sweet just like the candy." No complaints here-- it does smell like liquid candy!

Next we have the lotions. First we have the On The Go lotion in Krispie Kreme! This is described as "warm, sweet, sticky and sugary goodness that is glazed donuts." I'll be honest, I love the OTG lotion in general, but I was not a huge fan of this scent. It smells like Play-Doh to me! Which isn't a bad thing; I like Play-Doh! But it didn't conjure up donuts to me, hah. The Triple Thick Lotion is Cadbury Easter Egg which has a strong chocolate scent and then a lighter, fluffier marshmallow scent underneath. The chocolate scent is the strongest and it's not my favorite, but I do love that this lotion now has a pump! Woo!

Let's talk body products next. The All Over Body is Marshmallow Peeps, which is described as "buttercream and vanilla folded into white fluffy marshmallow reminds us of those yummy marshmallow treats shaped like bunnies and chicks from when we were kids!!" While I'm not actually a huge fan of eating peeps, I do love the marshmallow scent here! We have another new product here-- the Dry Spot Healer! This has a Cola scent which is described as the "awesome aroma of real carbonated cola. You can ALMOST FEEL the fizz!" I would totally agree with this. It smells exactly like fizzy glass of cola and I love it! The Dry Spot Healer has a thick whipped texture, sort of like the Bath Whip and is a little on the stiff side but melts pretty easily into the skin. Very moisturizing-- I have been using this on my dry elbows and they are much softer and smoother!

As I'm grouping by twos, here are the hand products!  The Hand Butter is Animal Crackers, which is described as "crunchy, creamy, vanilla lighted toasted cookies." This almost has a light citrus hint to it and I really like it. Very light and not overwhelming at all. The Miracle Balm is Rice Krispies, which is described as a "whipped marshmallow, vanilla and sweet sugar." I am really craving rice krispies right now; I haven't eaten them in ages! I love how this smells. Plus the Miracle Balm is amazing so I love this, full stop. 

Last but not least, our remaining products are the Bath Whip in New York Cheesecake, a "cream cheese, vanilla, butter, condensed milk, sticky caramel and graham cracker crust all mixed together for this unforgettable scent!" I don't love this scent, probably because of the butter note, which is a real shame because I love the Bath Whip as a product. Maybe when I actually use it I will like it more! The Hand Scrub is Cookie Dough which "smells as if you are baking in the kitchen! A lovely mix of sweet sugary dough and chocolate chips." The more I sniff this, the more it actually does smell like cookie dough. At first I wasn't sure if it liked it, but the more I sniff it, the more it grows on me. 

All in all, I loved this box and am a big fan of Sunny's products. Yes, some of the scents are misses for me, but-- we can't love everything, right? Plus, scents are incredibly subjective so sometimes even when a description sounds good, you may not love the actual scent.  I am really loving the new lip scrub and dry spot healer, and I can't wait for Sunny to introduce more new products! 

Two Random Seahawks Manicures

This is going to be a totally random post because I did these manicure back in January for the NFL play-offs and then the Seahawks lost (womp womp) and my laptop was dead and so of course they weren't posted. But if I don't post them now, even though it's not football season, you'll probably never see them! So this will be short and sweet! 

Up first I have a manicure I did using solely Lucky 13 Lacquer polishes! I picked 12th Woman as my main polish, and it's a deep navy blue crelly polish. I'll have a review later! I then used a Born Pretty Stencil and added Unleash the Beast, a blue/green duochrome flakie for the pattern.  

The second manicure I have to share with you is one I unfortunately I didn't love. Not because the polishes were bad, but because the colors were off from what I had imagined in my head and I just wasn't really thrilled with the whole look. It happens, right? I used Pahlish Winds of the Cloud City and Fairytale Finish Turning Over a New Leaf for this manicure.

I'm just going to call this my retro Seahawks mani and leave it at that, because the colors match better with the retro (aka 70's and 80's) Seahawks uniforms. Both polishes were great but it wasn't the look I was going for. Ah well! 

Hope everyone is enjoying a nice weekend! 

Polish 'M Gingerbread Cookies

After a brief break for a green St. Patty's manicure, I am back with another neutral! And a new to me brand! Today I have a holiday polish from Polish 'M (formerly known as Laquerlicious). I'm not sure how I stumbled across Polish 'M (probably saw swatches on Instagram) but I saw several polishes I liked and decided to take the plunge. Today I have polish from her winter/Christmas collection called Gingerbread Cookies!

Gingerbread Cookies is a very pretty taupe grey that is loaded with blue/pink shimmer and duochrome flakies (to my eyes they seem to shift bronze/green). The taupe base is a tad on the sheer side-- I used three coats and there was maybe a hint of visible nail line though nothing very obvious. The formula was good, perhaps leaning a bit thicker depending on how you prefer your polishes, but I didn't have any problems while applying it. The only issue is that some the larger flakie pieces may want to stick out from your free edge, but that's pretty easy to fix.

This neutral is really lovely and unique! And even though the name is holiday themed, I think this polish is one that can be worn at any time of year! I was impressed with the polish, which is good, because I bought several others when I purchased this one. I can't wait to try them!

Do you like color theme weeks? Thought I'd try something different this time around!

St. Patrick's Day Manicure! (with Daily Hues and Lacquer Lust)

Hey all! Happy St. Patrick's Day! I'm not Irish and I don't really love the color green (at least on my nails) but I do like participating in the festivities! At first, I had grand plans to do some kind of nail art, like a gradient or gradient dots, but I've been feeling like a zombie since Daylight Savings hit and the motivation and energy to actually do nail art has proved beyond my capacity at this point. There just aren't enough hours in the day! So after wracking my brain to come with ideas I settled on the old tried-but-true green manicure plus accent nail combo. It's not the original idea out there, but hey, it's something! Picking colors also proved difficult (the perils of having too many nail polishes to choose from-- I finally understand why bloggers and nail artists organize by color and not by brand!) but I eventually settled on Daily Hues Holly as my main green and Lacquer Lust One Lucky Unicorn as my accent nail. (The first time I've used a Lacquer Lust polish, so it's a new to me brand!)

Holly is described as a "highly pigmented evergreen holo" and that pretty much sums it up.With the name and color description, Holly is probably considered a holiday/winter/Christmas green but it's such a rich, vivid green color (without being too dark) that I think it's perfect for St. Patrick's! It is nicely pigmented, but the formula is more on the jelly side, so it is a bit translucent when you apply it. It builds up nicely but I found I needed three coats to make sure it covered my nail beds to the degree I wanted. If you have shorter nails or smaller nails, you could probably get away with two coats. It was super easy to apply and dried quickly!

One Lucky Unicorn is described as a "clear based polish packed with silver and gold holographic micro glitters mixed with translucent green and lime green hex glitters and a dash of spectraflair." This polish is so densely packed with glitter that it actually covers very well in just one coat, though of course there is a bit of visible nail line due to the clear base. I ended up using three coats to make it fully opaque-- if you don't care about such things, 1-2 coats would probably be fine. This also dries down quickly, but warned-- it's a real top coat eater! I put two coats on this and it could actually stand a third so if you have some glitter spackle or a really thick top coat, I would suggest using that and then a quick drying top coat!

I just can't get over how beautiful Holly is. I mean, look at it!! It's pretty much everything you could want in a green holographic polish. I do feel that the holographic properties to get swallowed a bit on the nail (as opposed to looking at the bottle) but regardless, it's a gorgeous green and a shade of green I would be happy to wear on my nails at any time, despite being generally green-adverse. ;-) One Lucky Unicorn is my introduction to the Lacquer Lust brand, which has released many pretty polishes since the brand started and I am happy to report that  I am impressed-- which is good because I have a few more polishes from them to wear! Hope you enjoyed this St. Patrick's Day manicure! Are you wearing green on your nails today?

Native War Paints Coffee With Lots of Cream and Sugar

Continuing my neutrals theme this week: I have a new to me brand to share with you today! Native War Paints is a brand based out of Michigan and run by Amanda Pigeon-Scribner, who is a member of the Potawatomi Nation. I have been drooling over this brand's shimmer polishes, a finish I feel is really overlooked these days due to the demand for holographic polishes, but I still personally love shimmer!

Today's polish is Coffee With Lots of Cream and Sugar, which was originally part of NWP January sub box, but was so popular that they released it again for anyone else who wanted to purchase it! Which was very nice, so I decided to hop on the bandwagon and grab it while I could! This polish is a tan nude with some gold/bronze microglitter and a soft holographic finish. I used three coats to get the coverage I wanted, and found the formula to be a little bit thick, but certainly not terrible! I didn't have trouble applying it. 

My sister, who tends to wear a lot of Essie and OPI, fell in love with this polish when she saw me wearing this and asked if she could borrow my bottle! I was happy to lend it to her to wear; it's nice to introduce people to new brands! This is a really gorgeous neutral-- I felt very elegant and grown up (wait, aren't I grown up already?! Hahah) while wearing it and it's a very flattering polish! Unfortunately, this polish was limited edition and no longer available, sorry!

Daily Hues In With the Nude

Yesterday was white, which is a neutral (at least with clothing) so today to continue the vein I have another neutral polish to share with you!  I actually have a very strong affinity for neutral shades, though I tend not to grab them straight off the bat when reaching for polish-- but I adore how clean and polished (hah) they look. Today's polish, In With the Nude is half of a limited edition duo released in January by Jenn (the creator of Daily Hues). I actually still need to wear the other half of this duo, so you'll see it later on!

In With the Nude is a nice neutral tan color with a strong silver shimmer and a medium holographic finish. Because of the silver shimmer, this does lean a little metallic and maybe a little "frosty" for some, though I did not have issues with brush strokes or frostiness. I am fairly certain I used three coats here, just to make sure I have the coverage I wanted, though others may be able to get away with two coats. If I recall correctly, the formula was good-- perhaps a touch thick (and I think it did thicken up as I had my bottle open) but definitely not difficult to work with! 

This is such a pretty neutral! Neutral holographics are a favorite of mine because they are clean and easy to wear and have just a touch of sparkle to keep them interesting. This is a new favorite!

Colors by Llarowe Chasing a Unicorn

"Chasing a unicorn" is a phrase that's used to explain the desire people have to find the impossible, the elusive, the mythical. In this case, Leah Ann of Colors by Llarowe named this polish after an elusive desire of her own-- a white holo. In the nail polish world, white holos are difficult (actually impossible) to make because the holographic pigment that is added to the base color adds a greying or silvery effect to the color, usually lighting it up a bit, and in the case of whites, greying them out. So Leah Ann created this duo, Chasing a Unicorn, after her quest to make a white holo.

The color correcting base is a white crelly that is a little bit thick and goes on a bit streaky, as most whites tends to do. I used a light hand when applying this to try and avoid streaks, though I did have to use two coats and still had a few patchy areas. I will admit that because I was putting the holo coat on over it, I didn't make much an effort to get my base coats completely even and opaque. It wasn't terrible, but I probably could have been more careful when applying it. Also, because I don't get along with jellies at all, there was a tiny bit of bubbling but this was covered up by the holo part of the duo. Chasing a Unicorn holo top coat was easy to apply-- sheer but went on nicely and didn't seem streaky. 
 

Yikes, I didn't realize what a sloppy polish job I did until I went back to edit these photos. Sorry guys, that's embarrassing!

This still isn't quite a pure white holo, of course, but it's still pretty! Chasing a Unicorn does lend a soft greyish edge to the finish look, which I personally find a bit more flattering anyway (true white polish reminds me of white out) so I'm not upset it's not a true true white. You could probably vary how white/grey the finished product looks by varying the thickness of the coats of polish you use or how many coats you use. 

Love Angeline Shandy

Today I have a more recent, "new to me" brand to share with you. I was introduced to Love Angeline thanks to Amanda aka Fashion Footing and decided I needed to give them a try myself! Love Angeline had a Black Friday sale so I snagged a few polishes on the cheap as my first foray into the brand. Today I have Shandy to share with you, which is one of her shimmer matte polishes from the Let's Grab a Drink collection. If you don't know, a shandy is a beer that is mixed with a soft drink or juice, usually carbonated lemonade, ginger ale, or orange juice. Shandy is described as a "golden yellow matte polish with an intense flash of gold shimmer."

The formula on Shandy was a dream; exactly what I want from a matte polish. It wasn't too thick or too thin; it flowed nicely on the nail and built up easily  without getting thick and gloopy. The first coat covers nicely, though is a bit sheer. Two coats gave pretty good coverage, but I ended up using a third just to make sure there were no patches, though quite honestly you could get away with two if you have smaller nail beds than I do-- I tend to use three as my standard unless it's definitely opaque enough for two. 

Artificial light (flash): 

In summary, I love Shandy! (Plus shandy is delicious to drink-- perfect for summer!). This color is kind of funky and can lean green in some lights, so it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I love it. The formula was great and for a matte, it wore very well on me. I generally don't mention wear time because I change my nails so frequently, but I got three days of wear out of this manicure, with no top coat and only a few minimal chips. Bonus!!

In short, this polish really impressed me-- I have a couple other to show you soon, but I am definitely becoming a fan of Love Angeline polishes! 

Born Pretty Store Review: Nail Stencils and Liquid Tape

**Products provided in exchange for my honest review**

This review is so overdue it's not even funny. I had all my pictures ready to go and bam! Dead laptop and so this wasn't posted and wasn't posted. Major fail. So today I have two of the products from the Born Pretty Store that I was sent for review! I used them together to create a Seahawks manicure back in January for the playoffs which is why I'm combining my reviews here! The polishes I used here are two Seahawks themed polishes from Lucky 13 Lacquer-- I will have a post on them later!

First up, I received some nail vinyl stencils in pattern NK02. This particular set has six of each patterns (with two patterns, there are 12 total stencils). They are attached to a thin, flexible piece of plastic, and then have a little envelope to keep it safe.

Another item I received for review is the White Peel Off Liquid Tape, which is also advertised as a peel off base coat. Here I have only tested it as a latex barrier system to prevent polish from getting on the skin, not as a base coat. In the photo below you can see that I applied the nail stencil, then put the latex barrier down around my cuticle. Remember: this product contains latex so you shouldn't use it if you have a latex allergy!

I then applied my polish of choice over the stencil and took the stencil off before it could dry:

To better showcase the flakies and the stencil pattern, here's a picture taken inside my shower (no one was showering at the time, rest assured--it's just a good place for an indirect light source):

You can see my free edge got a little messed up because I didn't have the stencil adhered to my nail properly, but overall I think the honeycomb diamond pattern looks cool with the shifting flakies!

Overall, I thought the stencils were pretty nice and while I need a little more practice with them myself, they worked well and I would definitely use them again. I am less sold on the liquid latex skin barrier. It did work as advertised and prevented any nail polish from getting on my skin, but I thought it was difficult to remove and some of it was very stubborn and clung to my skin, even after scrubbing at it in the shower the next day. Maybe it will work better as a base coat, which I will try in the future!

And remember, you can use the code CRK31 for a 10% discount on your purchase from BPS!

**Products provided in exchange for my honest review**

Belated Valentine's Day Manicure

Yes, I know it's March... and we're heading into the downhill slide towards St. Patrick's Day and Easter. But because I am back at blogging (I still have to get back into a groove as I am woefully out of practice) I wanted to share the manicure that I sported for Valentine's Day before we get too much farther away from it.

Back in January, I saw Dollish Polish post on their Instagram page about releasing a Valentine's duo inspired by Han Solo and Leia Organa from Star Wars. Being that Han/Leia is my OTP (one true pairing-- goddamnit JJ Abrams for breaking them up) stemming from my SW obsession that started back in middle school, there was no way I was going to pass up on this duo! Based on the famous lines that Han and Leia, the duo consisted of I Love You, described as a candy pink with a scattered holographic finish and I Know, a glitter topper featuring matte red and pink hex glitter in a shimmery holo base (the actual description says red, and there may be a slight tint to it, but I didn't really see that it affected the color of my base polish).

For my manicure I decided to use I Love You for the majority of my nails, and then use I Know on an accent nail. For the base color of my accent nail, I pulled out Enchanted Polish Faerydae, a pale pink holographic to layer I Know over. Yes, it breaks up the whole Star Wars theme, but... we do what we have to, right? Really, I should have pulled out Dollish Polish Millennium Falcon to really complete the manicure-- maybe next time!

Sadly for me, though I loved the way this looked, this manicure was a nightmare. Not because the polishes were bad (they were totally fine) but because my head as completely in the clouds when I did it. February was a very rough month for my family (my dad ended up in the hospital, our water heater exploded, one of my sons had a seizure) and when I did this manicure late at night on the 13th, my head was just off in the clouds and I was probably tired and I didn't pay any attention to what I was doing-- so I ended up using top coat as my base coat and vice verse. Let me tell you; it doesn't work that way! Even though I remedied the base coat as top coat situation by slapping a real top coat on my nails, this manicure ended up peeling off in sheets. Lesson learned: don't mix these two up! So I ended up removing this pretty quickly, which was a real shame because I loved how it looked. I will have to redo this properly at some point in the future because I absolutely loved all the polishes. At least the photos look ok, right?

Have you every had an ridiculous/silly/stupid mishaps when applying a manicure?

Two-Fer Tuesday: Fairytale Finish Neverending Fairytales November 2015

Hey look, I'm back!! My computer is finally back and fixed-- aka it's pretty much a brand new laptop. But I'm here, woo! Today I have the November subscription box from Fairytale Finish! The theme was magic and both the polishes are very gorgeous! Let's get on to the polishes!

Mystical Realm is an icy periwinkle shimmer. That description doesn't really do any sort of justice to the polish, though! It's a very pretty pale periwinkle with a strong shimmer and a soft holo finish. While not really metallic, I did have to be a little careful while applying it to avoid a few brushstrokes, though honestly I don't think they were very visible in real life. I think I used three coats here, just to make sure I had complete coverage. I didn't have any trouble with this at all. As a side note: one of my two year old sons saw this color and immediately wanted it on his nails! Super cute! 

Crystal Ball is a deep blue jelly stuffed full of tiny holographic glitter and some larger silver flakies. This is kind of blurple, though I would say it's mostly blue. This is super gorgeous. The formula was good-- I probably used three coats here again, because that's kind of my go-to number! (And also I can't remember, sorry!) 

Even though I am so stinking behind on well, just about everything-- especially my subscriptions-- I hope I will be able to catch up eventually. I always love the subs I get from Amanda and this box has definitely been on of my favorites!

Twin Mani with Polished Lifting: Spring Flower Dotticure

Whew, I've been gone a long time! Technically, my computer is still being worked on (ugh ugh ugh) but I'm tired of waiting, so I'm commandering my husband's laptop to post again! Today I have a special manicure to share with. A while ago, Courtney of Polished Lifting posted on the Hobby Polish Bloggers Facebook group asking if anyone wanted to do twin manicures, and I said I was interested-- so here we are finally doing it! What's really cool is that Courtney is in Portland (OR), so we actually might be able to meet up in real life as opposed to the blogosphere or email! I'm probably the worst collaborator ever-- it took me forever to get my shizz together because February was a freaking terrible month for me but we made it! My whole reason behind wanting to do a twin manicure is because I want to work on my nail art skills, but use techniques that I feel are achievable given my time and resources. Courtney does a lot of really great stamping (beyond me at the moment!) and agreed to stick to some simpler nail art! To this end, I ended up requesting to do a flower dotticure, something that I have wanted to do for months now but haven't actually attempted yet! 

I have had the colors I used in this mani picked out for months (let's be honest, probably since last year, ack). It's a bunch of Julep colors, which wasn't really planned, but I think they look pretty and springy together. And I am definitely ready for spring! For my base I used Julep Moni, a bright robin's egg blue. I think used Julep Shelby (dark blue), Denise (lilac purple), and Marcella (pink) to make my flowers. These are all cremes and worked really well for the dotting technique.  

Artificial light (flash): 

I've been wanting to do a dotticure flower manicure for awhile-- and I was surprised by how difificult it was! Placing the dots just so to get the look I wanted sounds simple and straightforward, but actually isn't as easy as it might seem! However, for my first try I'm pretty happy with the way mine ended turning out! Do I need some more practice? Sure! But it was a fun first try! I'm particularly proud of my index nail, which I think is my favorite! 

And that's it! You should go check out Courtney's manicure here! My posting going forward is still going to be sporadic because I am still waiting for my laptop to be fixed, but I'm really tired of this enforced hiatus! I have been wearing a bunch of awesome polishes and I need to share them with you! (Though you should check out my Instagram [@catray] because I've been busy posting Nail of the Day pictures!)

Also, I'd like to say-- if there's anyone else out there who would be interested in doing twin manis (either a one-off or an ongoing series); I would love to collaborate! Courtney has a rotation of bloggers she is going to be posting twin manis with; I hope to collaborate with her again in the future!