LVX Summer 2013 Collection Swatches & Review

TGIF!

Last night's nail networking event was a wonderful opportunity to meet women in the business and meet new faces. I had a great time, and even won a raffle for a new smock! If you live in Colorado, I would definitely recommend attending Nail Talk Denver's next event.

Read more on their Facebook page!

Tonight I'm showing the summer 2013 collection from LVX, a polish line devoted to matching and predicting the world's top fashion lines' colors and trends. They're a luxury line, running at $16 per bottle. 

The summer 2013 collection has 6 really pretty colors that align with specific spring/summer fashion trends. Click each color's below name to see which designs inspired it.

• Chambord
• Modena
• Celeste
• Mynt
• Deco
• Rive

These gorgeous light shades really inspired me to create a soft, watercolor look. But then when I started mixing the colors, they felt tribal, so I did some simple geometric overlaps to change it up. Here's the final look I came up with:

The studs were purchased from Born Pretty Store. The technique I used is widely known as the watercolor technique, and I put a little bit of a spin on it.

First, I polished a base of the tan color (Rive, which you'll see after the jump). Then, I used a small detail brush (not as thin as a striper) to dip into three of the other colors, individually. Before striping on the colors in random patches, I dipped the brush in acetone, so it was washed out when I applied it. The whole look needs a good, random touch, so it's a great beginner technique!

Now let's look at the rest of the swatches!

Shown in 2 coats is Rive. This nude creme has a slight pink undertone to it.

Deco is a pretty pink-peach creme. It reminds me of the same color often used in San Francisco row houses. I used 2 coats here as well.

Celeste is one of my favorites in the collection (2 coats again). It's a simple, lovely powder blue.

Another favorite for me is Mynt. Just the perfect mint! I needed 3 coats for this one.

Modena only needed 1 coat, but 2 if you have a long white free edge to hide. It's a great bright red creme.

Finally, there's Chambord, which seems unusual in a summer collection. However, check out the inspiration page of designs for it and it comes into light. This wine creme needed 2 coats.

LVX is available online, but it's also available in select retailers. Find one near you here. Follow their social outlets too!

LVX  |  LVX Facebook  |  LVX Twitter  |  LVX Instagram  |  LVX YouTube

These products were sent to me by LVX. The reviews are based entirely on my experience with the products and were in no way influenced by anyone.

Precision Lacquer Dreamy Collection Review

Creamy and dreamy, I'm swatching the Dreamy collection from a new-to-me polish line, Precision Lacquer.

This lines looks great, and after testing it out, I can confirm that it is. The formulas are self-leveling and awesome. They are opaque, but not stark, so though some require 4 coats, they look wonderful (and are actually my favorites in this collection).

I'm thrilled to have been able to try Precision Lacquer, and I can't wait to try more of them! They're perfectly put together and make amazing nail art polishes!

I used four colors from this collection and a white to get this look. Perfectly paired right?

I love the cremes in this collection, so let's not procrastinate the beauty any longer.

My favorite in the collection is On Cloud 9. It's so soft, and requires 4 coats. It's a pale, solid, creme powder blue. No shimmer or effect of any kind, it's beyond wonderful.

Walking On Air is a powder lilac that perfectly corresponds to On Cloud 9. A little grey, like a fine evening mist hanging in the air. This one was also 4 coats.

Enlightenment is a lemon pastel, not a buttery yellow pastel. I used 4 coats here again. I love the color against my skin tone and see it working well on others'.

Have you ever watching Grey's Anatomy? I used to, and remember, quite fondly, Dr. McDreamy. This soft kelly green in named for this hunk, called McDreamy. It feels slightly teal, but clearly isn't. Another wonderful addition to the Dreamy collection. This was 3 coats.

On the other side of the air and clouds is the big blue ocean, so Blissful Abyss acts as the beautiful yin to the air colors' yang. It's darker than any of the previous shades, so it only called for 2 coats.

The last polish in Dreamy is Grape-Divine. To me, it looks exactly how grape candy tastes. A little tangy, but still very sweet! This was 3 coats.

Have you ever tried Precision Lacquer? They're fun and flirty and a nice change from bigger brands. I can see myself buying some of these after trying the collection out.

You can purchase the bottles from the Precision Lacquer website for $5.95 each. Nice price, nice polishes! They don't ship internationally if you order online, but you can contact them directly if you're interested.

These products were sent to me by Precision Lacquer. The reviews are based entirely on my experience with the products and were in no way influenced by anyone.

Gold Romance

The colors in tonight's manicure just seem very romantic. I'm sad I didn't do a floral pattern with them, but really mesmerized by the gold.

I guess you could call this...Goldfinger.

Each nail, with the exception of the middle one, has hand-placed glitter from BornPrettyStore.com. The colors I used include My Vampire is Buff and Sparrow Me the Drama from OPI, Fade Into Hue from China Glaze, Blue My Mind from H&M, Goldie from Zoya, and two layers of Five Golden Rings from My Nail Graffiti.

It's so delicate, and getting in the spirit of the upcoming green and gold holiday! I'm excited to get that manicure together to share soon as well.

Bow Tutorial for Lulus.com

I've been working with Lulus.com recently to create some awesome, fashion-inspired tutorials for you all to enjoy. There's more on the way too, so get your nail art brushes ready for some easy and adorable tutorials.

Our first collaboration is this fun bow tutorial, inspired by this adorable dress from Lulus.com.

You can read about the tutorial's inspiration over at Lulus.com here!

Here's the tutorial:

Kleancolors from MyWholesaleFashion.com Reviews and Swatches

Kleancolor is a brand I've seen a lot of glitters from, and I've never seen in stores. I was contacted by a company called MyWholesaleFashion.com about doing a review of their site though, and was pleasantly surprised to see a whole stock of Kleancolor...well...colors...to choose from.

In addition to Kleancolor polishes, they carry Nabi, Profusion, and Santee. No, I've never heard of any of those, and I didn't pick any to do a review of for you today. Instead, I chose a wide selection of Kleancolors to showcase.

MyWholesaleFashion.com also carries makeup products, jewelry, and other accessories you may want to buy in bulk. They also have a few stamping kits for nails, as well as bulk orders of nail glue and nail art bits and baubles like rhinestones. I didn't notice these before, but it seems their inventory is expanding a bit. I've added them to my Where to Shop page, so make sure to check that out for other great places to build your nail army.

Anywho, onto the Kleancolors.

Overall, I'd say the formula for Kleancolor is hit and miss. For example, the neon yellow you're about to see was streaky but thick. And then the pastels were much easier to work with. The glitter was also very full, but the base gave me problems. However, it is a cheaper brand, and I do like their color selection. The creme polishes seem to be pretty consistent, so I would recommend buying those.

I don't have a whole lot to say about each color, so this will be a short-ish review.

First up, the polishes I didn't swatch individually. 11 polishes to swatch in one night is a lot, so instead, I combined five different pastels from Kleancolor into on patchwork nail art design.

Featured are Pastel Orange, Pastel Purple, Pastel Teal, Pastel Yellow, and TLC. I really love this nail art! The cremes were easy to work with too. They're not as vivid as Lime Crimes, which are my favorite pastels right now, but they're close! The black is Raven from Zoya.

Funky Yellow. It took 4 coats and still wasn't perfect, and it was definitely thick. Definitely the most problematic of the polishes in this set. I suggest using an undercoat of white if you do use this. I regret not.

Concrete Grey. It comes off a little blue due to my lightbulb. It's not quite as blue in real life. This was two coats, and it applied really well. I liked this one a lot. I imagine it's good for stamping, though I haven't put it to the test.

Fashionista. I'm sorry...who? I don't consider the army colors to be the most fashionable, nor do I associate this particular color with anything particularly glamorous. In fact, I'd say if you think hard enough, you could recollect a sick dog or a poopy diaper and know exactly what color I'm describing. Definitely unique to my collection! This was two coats.

Grande Finale. Holographic bar glitter. Really pretty but damn troublesome. This won't last long on your nails. It's like needing to pluck that annoying nose hair right out of your boyfriend's nose...but with glitter...on your nails.

Holo Chrome. What's up with the naming Kleancolor? This is not chrome, but it definitely has holo! I made the focus slightly off for the image so you could get the holo effect a bit. I liked this three-coater holo, but I HATED the brush. It was huge and strangely shaped. Like on the manufacturing line it went in at a weird angle and just never got fixed. Shame, it's a beautiful color!

Pastel Blue. This is different than Pastel Teal (used in the patchwork nail art) because it's more grey. I wouldn't call the 'teal' teal though. The pastels are all gorgeous in their own right, and only need 2-3 coats.

You can get Kleancolors like these from MyWholesaleFashion.com. Be wary of the packaging that the polishes are shipped in however. I've seen several other blogs purchasing from this site with horror stories, and I just consider myself lucky my bottles didn't break. It sounds like replacements are always given, but I think they just need to switch the packaging. Everything arrives in a box with a few pieces of bubble wrap loosely laid out. I had 3-4 layers of bubble wrap, with a few bottles between each layer. Each bottle was not individually wrapped, which is just begging for breakage, so hopefully that changes.

These products were sent to me by MyWholesaleFashion.com. The reviews are based entirely on my experience with the products and were in no way influenced by anyone.

Lime Crime Les Desserts d'Antoinette Nail Polish Collection Swatches and Review

The Nailed It cafe is officially open for business. In the heat of the summer, we don't want you melting away, so dip your fingers into our delicious menu.

Tonight's menu features Les Desserts d'Antoinette from Lime Crime.

Click to Expand

As you can see, we've imported some of this season's most scrumptious treats from Miss Antoinette's table straight to our cafe's treat case. We've prepared these tasty teaser shots to incite the salivation flood on your tongue.

 

Now that we have whet your appetite, as your humble maître d', let me guide you through our first dessert selection.

Our first option is Parfait Day. A soothing parfait on a hot day will surely cool you down, but also bring warmth and comfort to hungry tummies on cold, rainy days. Everybody loves parfait!

Don't miss out on the ripe picking of the season, Peaches ♥ Cream. If a juicy peach isn't enough to pucker those lips, then top it with a huge dollop of lightly whipped cream. Resistance is futile.

The summer menu peaks with this next goodie, Crema De Limón. A sour tickle on the tip of your tongue both refreshes and excites, but the cream finish levels each bite perfectly.

Difficult to sell, but impossible to resist is Pastelchio. Subtle flavor, sophisticated taste.

Once In a Blue Mousse look like the sky and feels like the clouds. You'll float through each bite into euphoric exaltation.

Floral scents dance across your palette when you dip into Lavendairy, but the taste is unmistakeably delicious.

All good things must come to an end, but ending in the creamy, sweet Milky Ways won't leave you wanting more, it will leave you needing more.

Do tell your friends to visit us sometime. Our delicacy's our unrivaled!

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Review

Are you drooling yet? I haven't stopped since I opened up the package I received from Lime Crime yesterday. I literally have nothing bad to say about these polishes.

I had personally never heard of Lime Crime before, but I'm thrilled I now know. They specialize in makeup products, but on June 20th of this year, they dipped into the world of nail polish, and I have a feeling that once word gets out, they'll be scrambling to keep up with the demand for these colors. Seriously...grab them while you can!

Every single color from Les Desserts d'Antoinette, the collection featured here, is absolutely stunning. These bright pastels are decidedly easy to apply, and after two effortless coats, you get the opacity you see above. I applied a third coat to Milky Ways, Crema De Limón and Peaches ♥ Cream to ensure the pictures were looking their best. It's damn near impossible to find creme finishes in pastels that make such a bright yet soft impact, but Lime Crime nailed it!

Like I said, you won't here a bad thing from me about these polishes.

I've been wearing a few layers of these colors for a day now, using the sometimes problematic Seche Vite as the top coat, and there's no damage. None. And I lifted weights today.

I also have to rave about the packaging and advertising Lime Crime has for the line. The first picture is lifted straight off of their site (available as a background in several resolutions here) and is what inspired me to give you a menu to drool over rather than some hum-drum swatch info I normally deliver. You can also see that each polish comes in it's own, perfectly sized box, with the color's name on top and the bottle peaking through a punch out in the front. My inner hoarder hates the idea of throwing these away yet. I loved the packaging so much, it inspired the dripping color design seen in the first picture and below.

The application was aided by the brush's design. It's the perfect size for what it is. These cuties are only 0.3 oz (sadly), so they're squatty when sitting next to most of the other bottles in my collection. I prefer that though, as it seems the brush will reach the polish longer. That's a huge relief because I'll cry the day these run out.

You can pick up all seven of these polishes individually for $5.99 each at Lime Crime's website, or as a set for $39.99.

These products were sent to me by Lime Crime. The reviews are based entirely on my experience with the products and were in no way influenced by anyone.