Sation and ipsy Think Pink Nail Art

Miss Professional Nail (Miss) has announced a brand partnership with online beauty giant ipsy, a video community showcasing customized looks and product tutorials from the best and brightest of the beauty world. Love At First Byte and Of Corset I’ll Call You from Sation’s Miss Antoinette Spring 2013 nail lacquer collection, was featured in ipsy’s April “Glam Bag.” For $10/month, subscribers in the USA and Canada receive a themed Glam Bag with four or five deluxe beauty products, selected by ipsy stylists to deliver a finished look.

Miss asked a few bloggers to create some fun nail art looks showcasing one or both of these pretty pink polishes for ipsy and Sation lovers alike to enjoy! I was inspired by the name of the pinker of the two, Of Corset I'll Call You, and decided to "bust" out a "tight" and sexy look.

My thumb and middle fingers both got corseted up, while my other three fingers rolled up some fishnet stockings, with a base of Of Corset I'll Call You. It's all done freehand, using a striping polish for the fishnets, and a striping brush for the corset details.

I loved this look, and the soft pink of the polish (which I will be swatching soon for everyone).

Be sure to check out both Miss and ipsy on Facebook for more information about the Glam Bags and the Miss Antoinette polishes!

A Pirate's Life for MEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

I've been to Disney World a bajillion times in my life.  The one ride my family would always insist we ride every single trip was Pirates of the Caribbean.  We knew all of the words to the song, we knew exactly where the canon fire would land, and we knew every creepy animatronic character there was.  So, of course, when the movie came out my entire family had to go see it with the family friends who always went to Disney with us.  I loved the first movie, so much, despite Kiera Knightley's horrible pout [She really gives Kristin Stewart a run for her money.]  

(Source)

I mean, seriously.  She looks like the worst mouth breather EVER.

The rest of the movies were good, but not like the first one.  I was a little bummed when they decided to add elements of the movie to the ride, but I'm just a purist when it comes to my childhood favorites, I guess!  This story has a point, I promise.  And here it is: when I saw that Dollish Polish had created a polish called Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho, A Pirate's Life for Me, I knew I had to have it.  So stalk it I did.  

*I was not financially compensated for this post.  All items in this review were purchased by me for my own use.  The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.  For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy in the tab above.*

Color: Deep berry red jelly with gold, silver, navy, and maroon hexes.

Finish: Glitter Jelly – glitter in a colored jelly base.

Bottle / Brush: Round bottle – brush and wand are the standard width and length.  Easy to control and manipulate.

Opacity: Medium – achieves opacity at three to four coats.  This is one coat over Gelish Black Cherry Berry.

Glitter Application: Easy – Spreads evenly without much manipulation.

Consistency: Medium – applies easily and doesn’t flood the cuticles.

Overall Ease of Application: Easy – applies well without pooling, dragging, streaking, or balding.  Spreads evenly and smoothly.

Stampability: Not designed for stamping.

Dry Time: Quick – dry to the touch without smudging in under 3 minutes.  Granted, I think that's because I only used 1 coat over a gel mani, so I didn't have to wait for several coats to dry.

Overall Thoughts: The application of Yo-Ho was fabulous.  I'm not sure about multiple coats, but it was perfect over undies.  The glitters came out easily and spread well.  I'm sure if you want more glitters than what I've shown here, you'd most likely need to go with more than one coat.  I don't think it would be wise to load up the brush with a lot of glitters because that will probably cause you to flood your cuticles.  While I enjoyed the application, I'm a bit confused about the inspiration for this polish.  I don't really know why she chose the color combinations she chose.  I don't really feel like it evokes Pirates of the Caribbean.  It is a very pretty polish, though, and I'm glad I added it to my collection!

You can purchase Dollish Polishes at her store, Llarowe, and Overall Beauty.  Yo-Ho is only stocked at her store linked above.  Follow Dolly on Facebook and Twitter for news and updates.

Have you been to Disney?  What's your favorite ride?

Review: Pueen plates 1-25

Hello!

A few weeks ago, I bought one of the new sets of Pueen plates, the one that contains plates 1-25. I posted a manicure using them, and you showed interest in seeing a review of them, so here they are!

First and foremost, as always I recorded a video showing all of the images accompanied by my chatter about the ones I like. :) Here's the video if you like your plate reviews in that form:

Next, here are stills of each of the plates, if you prefer a silent version of my review, lol:

My favorite on this plate is the one top left--don't know what to call it, but it's cool!

I love the flower prints, and that cool lace print!

Love that top image, and how cute are those flower balloons!

The interlocking lines are my favorites here

Love the background stamp to the left, and the one with the berries (eyeballs for Halloween? Oh yeah...)

I will find a reason to use that pineapple, mark my words.

That one on the left looks like a terrain map to me

Love the 3D illusion image and the stars are very fun. :)

That peacock image is to. die. for.

Love the water waves on the right

The one on the left reminds me of those bead door curtains from the 70s...I love the middle diamond one

The rubber duckie has stolen my heart

Crazy weird pinwheel background image FTW

Very cool reptile/fish patterns

That leaf image at the top is one of my favorites in the set--I love the art-deco one in the middle, too

I love that quad of diamonds, and how cool is that kaleidoscope looking one bottom middle!?

That heart is made of little circles, and I love the stylized flower on the left

Completely in love with that patterned one on the right--what a great background stamp, and it reminds me of the tilework on an Italian villa. :)

Love the art-deco-ish one in the middle bottom

Little snail guy is too adorable for words

Who doesn't need a domino swirl?

Pretty background pretty background reindeer pretty background wait what?

That one on the right looks like a cable-knit sweater with flowers on it :)

Not my favorite plate, I must admit...but the butterfly and teddy bear are very sweet. :)

I'm crazy about the flowered image on the right, and the paper doll cut outs are adorbs :)

And no plate review would be complete without a comparison to a standard Konad plate:

Pueen v. Konad

As you can see, the Pueen images are a teeny titch larger than Konad--but barely, especially once you take into account the half-moons. In terms of etching, to my naked eye, the Pueen plates don't look to be quite as clean when it comes to the engraving; however, I haven't noticed any issues with stamping at all; I've had all the images I've tried stamp well.

Speaking of which, you can check out the manicures I've done with these plates by clicking these links:

Diamond-pattern image

Gradient dots image (some smudging on index finger was my fault)

Art Deco image

I have a few others that I've done but haven't posted yet; I'll update them here when they post.

I purchased my plates from Amazon.com; they were $18.99 when I got them. I thnk they're a good deal for that price; if you like the style of the images, you'll have plenty here to have fun with.

Thanks for reading! Hugs and love,
M.

(The plates reviewed in this post were purchased with my own money.)

Grungy Glamour

I can't get enough of gradients, or as they're more and more often called, ombre.

My hair's got an ombre gradient, my favorite, albeit holey, sweater has a gradient, and my favorites on Instagram often contain a gradient.

This grungy gradient was inspired by this pin of ombre tights. The purple is from Savina, and it's called Dream. It also uses Black Onyx from OPI. The square studs are my package of Born Pretty Store square studs that I reviewed here. 

Holo!!!!!

Let's take a sneak peek at Kelara One Man Wolf Pack, which is part of their Double Rainbow holographic polish line.

*I was not financially compensated for this post.  All items in this review were purchased by me for my own use.  The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.  For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy in the tab above.*

Color: Gun metal silvery gray holographic.

Finish: Holographic – pigment gives polish a rainbow in the sunshine.

Bottle / Brush: TKB hexagon – lid is tapered at the bottom and larger at the top, which helps with handling the brush and application.  The wand is an average length.  The brush is thin but long, so you have to make sure you don’t load up on polish on your brush otherwise it may pool up on your cuticles.

Opacity: High – opaque in two coats!

Glitter Application: N/A

Consistency: Medium – applies easily and doesn’t flood the cuticles.

Overall Ease of Application: Medium – applies well with minimal pooling, dragging, streaking, or balding.  Spreads well without much manipulation.

Stampability: Not tested for stamping.

Dry Time: Medium – dry to the touch with minimal smudging in 3-8 minutes.

Overall Thoughts:  Kelara is one of my favorite indie brands for a reason!  The consistency of One Man Wolf Pack is soooo good.  Sometimes holos are a massive pain in the butt to apply, but I can honestly say that isn't the case with any of the polishes from the Double Rainbow collection.  Wolf Pack has elements of linear and scattered holoness, which makes it really pop in the sunlight.  It definitely leans more toward gun metal silver that looks a little like stainless steel than silver.  The rainbow isn't very strong in indoor lighting, but it's still very pretty.  In the sun, though, the rainbow shines through easily.  I have used two coats here, and it's perfect!

You can purchase Kelara Lacquers at their store or Etsy.  Also, follow them on Facebook and Twitter for news and updates on new collections.

Do you own any Kelaras?  Which is your favorite?

Review: Lucky 13 Lacquer

Hello!!

I always love sharing new indie polishes I've found with you, so I'm excited about this post. :) Today I have for you: Lucky 13 Lacquer.

There were so many goodies on the Lucky 13 Lacquer site that it took me three days to decide what to get. I could only manage three, and I'm so incredibly pleased with the three I got, I'm already planning out my next trip when funds allow. :)

Bring on the polish! Apologies again for the cuticles--they're recovering, but slowly, and this was taken right before I broke my nails.

The first polish is A Leaf On The Wind, from her Ballad Of Serenity collection; this is a beautiful robin's-egg blue crelly with silver and light green glitters:

Lucky 13 Lacquer A Leaf On The Wind

Lucky 13 Lacquer A Leaf On The Wind

Lucky 13 Lacquer A Leaf On The Wind

When I look at this, I absolutely can see beautiful leaves flying across a clear sky. This is two coats with topcoat, and while it seems a little patchy in the pictures, it was opaque in real life; if you're worried about it you can do three coats to be sure. Application was beautiful, no struggles at all. :)

Next is Bowties Are Cool; this is a brownish-gold base with red, gold and brown glitters in it. It can be worn alone, but I wanted to try it as a topper, over Orly Buried Alive:

Lucky 13 Lacquer Bowties Are Cool overcast light

Lucky 13 Lacquer Bowties Are Cool overcast light

Lucky 13 Lacquer Bowties Are Cool overcast light

Lucky 13 Lacquer Bowties Are Cool overcast light

This is from her Dr. Who Collection (Last Of The Time Lords), and I believe The Doctor would approve. I sponged this over my base coat, and was able to get the glitters where I wanted them without fuss. I'm such a huge red fan, I love the way this polish is a perfect setting for a splash of red. :)


And finally, the piece de resistance: Strawberry Girl, also from her Ballad Of Serenity collection. This is a strawberry-red jelly with green shards and teeny black hex glitters:

Lucky 13 Lacquer Strawberry Girl indoor light

Lucky 13 Lacquer Strawberry Girl indoor light

Lucky 13 Lacquer Strawberry Girl direct partial sun

This is two coats with topcoat. No problems with application, even though there is shard glitter--they went on perfectly. And how beautiful is that polish!! It looks exactly like the mess I make when I try to clean strawberries for making strawberry shortcake, lol. I think it's pretty, fun, and perfect for summer picnics. I adore it! But wait...is there a way I can love it more? Maybe if I mattify it...:

Wow, wow, wow! I think this is just so pretty and whimsical. I love it and plan to wear it like crazy this summer. :)

So there are a few of the polishes I fell in love with from Lucky 13 Lacquer; you can find her shop by clicking here. Her polishes are currently $8 for full-sized bottles, but this is about to go up to $8.50, so hurry over there and take a look! She is taking orders even though she is on vacation, and will fill all of the orders placed before she returns next week at her current prices. Of course her polishes are three-free and cruelty-free.

Thanks for taking a look! Hugs and love,
M.

(the polishes reviewed in this post were purchased with my own money.)