Pahlish January Duo

Can I just start this post by saying one thing – thank goodness it's finally the weekend. I'm sorry if feels as though I abandoned you this week. Life was seriously so rough, work exploded and everything just got so crazy.

Anyway let's get to the pretty lovely non stressful things shall we?!

This is the January Duo from Pahlish and let's just say it's exactly what you want on gloomy winter days!!!

The base is Zulu Bunsen was a super bright coral almost neon creme polish that leaned orange. This is one of my favorite colors and boy was it just what I needed during a rather gloomy week. The formula was easy to work with and built up easily in two coats. 

After the base of Zulu Bunsen, I just knew I wanted to do a glitter gradient a la one of my favorite nail artists Very Emily. The second part of this duo is topper Moon Rock Dust and let me just tell you none of the photos can do it proper justice.

Moon Rock Dust is a holographic topper filled with platinum and golden flakies with beautiful orange and purple glitters with the most striking violet shimmer! I think the macro above captures it the best! Application on this was also a breeze.

This combo wore extremely well on me too, and it is just such a steal for $18. Being that tomorrow is the last day in January, you might not want to wait on this stunning duo!

Baroness X Ex Libris Collection

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you have all had great weekends! I'm sort of fighting a cold, but that's life. I did brave Ikea yesterday and buy my second helmer, I'm so much more organized now and definitely getting blogging mojo back!!!



Today I have a review of another new-to-me indie brand. I've been watching Nichole of Bedlam Beauty blog about Baroness X for ages now, and I recently finally hit the purchased button with this gorgeous 4-piece Ex Libris Collection.









First up we have Molino, a beautiful red jelly polish filled with gold to green shifting unicorn pee shimmer packed full of violet multichrome flakies. This polish was a breeze to apply, but was definitely sheer. My application shows three coats and there is still visible nail line, but I just saw on the Baroness X site, that this also looks good layered over another polish like white, which would also make it pop more. Lesson learned.









Next up we have one of my favorites of the bunch, this is Quixotica. This is a gorgeous teal leaning green jelly polish featuring golden unicorn pee pigment, super scattered holo pieces and cooler toned multichrom flakies. This polish is a teal lover's dream, it has so much depth. Formula is good, though sheer. Three coats for this opacity.









This is Alhambra. A gorgeous cobalt blue jelly with red to green unicorn pee pigment, holo shards and green irridescent flakies of various sizes. This polish is also has a lot of beautiful depth and character, another favorite of the bunch. Formula was good, sheer again, and I used three coats for this opacity.









To round out the collection we have Dulcina, for the violet lovers in the crowd. This has same unicorn pee pigment as Alhambra, but less flakies etc., really allowing the shift to shine. In addition to the lovely shimmer, this polish has some irridescent green flakies, that seem to be a bit big and sparse for my taste. But because they are so sparse, it really allows the unicorn pee to stand out. Once again sheer, but easy to apply. Three coats for this opacity.

Layering Dulcina or Alhambra over a darker color creates a different effect and sorry I don't have an example to show you, but after viewing the Baroness X site while browsing, I wish I had played more! :) Oh well another time!



Also included in my order was a sample of Baroness X's Matte Cuticle Balm which was so amazing. Not only did it sink into my cuticles right away, it was matte so I could instantly photograph my swatches without the usual dryness from swatching! I've already ordered this for myself to get a regular size (plus another polish, because well, I really like this brand so far!).

So that's it for today! Clearly I approve of this brand as I've already placed a follow up order! What do you guys think of Baroness X?! Have any suggestions for me for a future order?!

40 Great Nail Art Ideas – Three Shades of Purple

Today I've got another nail art look to share with you in my 52-Week Crumpet's Nail Tarts Challenge.



My prompt for the week was three shades of purple and leopard. I know the natural thought here was, sure, go with a gradient. But I was not going to give in to that thought.

I thought, let's really get challenged, time to play with reverse stamping decals.



To start with this look, I painted two quick coats of the gorgeous Octopus Party Nail Lacquer Petal to the Metal on each nail.

Then I stamped a leopard image using KBShimmer Eyes White Open on a clear coat on my UberMat. Then I filled in the leopard spots using Glam Polish Daily Dilemma and Lemming Lacquer I'll Give You Darkness (which I admit almost looks black here but is actually a dark violet, I'll have to swatch it on a whole nail soon).



Then I put a quick dry top coat on the image, and waited a minute or two and then ta-da! I created a reverse stamping decal!





Then because I was getting tired and the idea of creating more decals seemed like it would take too much time, I wanted to round out the look on the remaining tow fingers. So I just freehanded stripes of the purples in an attempt to show them off better.



I think the final look was ok, but it wasn't really what I was hoping for. But I feel I actually challenged myself with this look, and I feel like I might be getting my nail art mojo back!!! What do you think?!?

And of course, make sure to check out the other talented ladies to see what they came up with for this fun three-purple prompt!


   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

Dreamland Lacquer Valentine's Day Trio

Hey everyone, I'm super excited to share with you a new Valentine's Day trio from Dreamland Lacquer, formerly Smitten Polish.

*Press Samples*

Unfortunately due to a trademark denial, Noelie – the genius behind Smitten and now Dreamland, had to rebrand. But she still is a genius and she still is making some amazing polishes!

This is the inaugural Dreamland Collection and will be available for preorder at Dreamland Lacquer's new site Friday! More details on that at the end of the post!

This is a three piece Valentine's Day Collection entitled Great Romances, inspired by some awesome couples!!!









This is Breakfast at Lukes. This is a gorgeous Tiffany aqua-blue microglitter with gorgeous scattered holo sparkle. This took two coats for this opacity and dried to a somewhat textured finish. Required two layers of top coat for totally smooth sparkle. Noelie had some notes on the inspiration for this beauty.

For Lorelai Gilmore, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Because COFFEE. Because Chemistry. Because Luke.

I just love this polish, and I know there are many a polish fanatic out there in search of that perfect Tiffany blue. I think Noelie nailed it with this one!

Cool

Cool

Warm

Warm, turning slight cool

Warm, turning slight cool

Mid transition

Mid transition

Next up is my favorite of the three and I can tell you this will for sure make you swoon. This is Burned Jam in Vermont, you guessed right, for Olivia Pope and Fitzgerald Grant of Scandal! This is a lovely thermal flakie polish packed with gorgeous glowing flakies. When cold it is a very vampy blackened red, which glows from the orange to green color shifting flakies. When warm, it is a beautiful bright red with the orange flakies mimicing fire. Let's see what Noelie had to say:

Hot. Cold. Off. On. Smoldering. Sexy. Sometimes life distracts you from the dream and when that happens... your jam gets burned. 

I wore this for a full day and I could not stop looking at my nails. So fun and beautiful to see this shift, I love it both cool and warm. The flakies were the perfect addition to the polish, giving it a special glow either warm or cool. It took two coats for opacity and wore super well!









Finally we have I Made A Promise, a soft gold holographic polish that has matching golden microglitter. Noelie's inspiration for this polish was great:

What Valentine's Day would be complete without a polish inspired by the world's greatest bromance? I Made A Promise is inspired by the One Ring, and the promise Samwise Gamgee to never leave his friend Frodo Baggins. 

This polish was opaque in two coats and was smooth after one coat of top coat. It was super sparkly and almost leaned a tad green on my skin tone. But it was a beautiful gold sparke without feeling too holiday-esque!

So I totally think Noelie hit is out of the park for this first Dreamland Lacquer collection. The collection will be available for preorder at 2 p.m. CST Friday at the new Dreamland Lacquer site. The preorder will be open for 24 hours and the estimated turn around time is two to three weeks. The Pantone duo she released earlier this year will be available under the new Dreamland Lacquer name.

If you haven't gotten your hands on the Smitten Polish Christmas in Stars Hollow Collection, you have until Thursday to make up your mind, that collection will retire on Thursday. You can still purchase it on the Smitten Polish site. If you need a refresher of what that collection looks like, my review is here!

So share your thoughts, what do you like about this trio? Which is your favorite? What do you think of the Dreamland Lacquer name?!

40 Great Nail Art Ideas – Things that Fly

Hey everyone, I'm a little late on my Crumpet's Nail Tarts Things that Fly prompt, but better late than never, am I right?!



Every night when I drive home, it's my favorite time of day, twilight. The light is fading on the horizon and for some super strange reason the street I live on is home to a host of crows, that fly together finding a place to sleep for the night (usually on the tops of tall pine trees that line my street).

So for the this prompt, I thought I'd try to recreate that on my nails!



For the base I did a gradient of Zoya Blu and Zoya Stella and then topped it with that brand I wish not to name – it's a holo topper with silver flakies.



Then I broke out Painted Polish Midnight Mischief and I stamped the bird image using my Bundle Monster BM-508 plate. I messed up my thumb a buuuunch of times so for these shots only include four fingers, not my norm.



Don't forget to check out the other talented ladies doing this 52 week challenge with me!


   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

Personal Post with a Side of Black Holo Skittles

Hey guys, today I've got some stuff I want to share with you. Personal stuff. I hope you'll stick with me through it all. Think of it as a chance to get to know me a little better, but because we obviously all love nails, I've got a fun nail art look to share as well.



Here are my nails! I'll get to the details at the end of this post, but for now I thought I just get to the sharing part.

Part of me feels like I've lost my mojo this month. A lot of it has to do with the fact that I've been trying to get pregnant for a year now with no luck. It's struggle to remain optimistic when you keep confronting failure month in and month out.

On top of that, I have PKU, which I've covered here before here and here. It basically means that on top of this whole trying to get pregnant thing, I have to have a strict and monitored diet where I don't get to eat anything fun (no dairy, meat, bread etc.).

I've just been a little melancholy this month in general, the whole trying to get pregnant thing is a lot of it, but part of it is I feel like I suck at this whole blogging thing a bit.

I'm in a TON of nail groups on Facebook and sometimes it just feels like I am drowning. With my full time day job I can't possibly remain as connected as I'd like to be, and as a result, I sometimes feel lost in the world of nail blogs.

I often envy the people who are great at responses, have a ton of interaction with each other. Sometimes I feel like I don't even have time to comment on all the blogs I read, and I wish I were better at that. Maybe I'd have more interaction of my own.

On top of it all, I'm suffering from dry winter nails, and despite my daily cuticle routine, I just don't feel like my nails measure up some days. Annnnnd I made the mistake of waaaaaay over filing them so I feel like my nubs couldn't possibly make some of this polish look amazing.

So as a result, my posts have been sporadic, and in my own eyes – half-hearted. I guess with everything else going on, nail polish used to be my escape, but with all the melancholy some nights I haven't had the energy to even play. I find myself overwhelmed with all the polish I own and not knowing which direction to go in!

Let's break up this ugliness with some more pretty rainbow sparkle shall we?!?



So life is not all bad. I'm trying to distract myself this month. I sort of feel like I left myself go health wise (not counting the diet stuff) last year, thinking 'hey I'll be pregnant soon enough so what's the point?!'

For Christmas I got a FitBit and I've been having fun doing mini competitions with other people I know who have a FitBit. I'm not being crazy or anything, but setting mini goals for myself and getting super excited when I make them. Also, taking walks on my breaks at work or when I get home is good stress release.

And I've found as a fun treat while I walk, I listen to super engaging podcasts and usually it makes me want to walk even long than I have time for. It feels good, because instead of walking and thinking of all the things I need to do etc. I get lost educating myself on some topic via a podcast, it's all very stress relieving.

Oh and I gave up drinking for a bit. Me and my hubby did to see if it helps in the fertility department. I didn't drink a whole bunch to begin with, so not that big a deal for me, but probably an adjustment for my hubby.

I think it's time for another photo.



So that's it from me in the personal department. I'm still here in the blogging world. Doing it when I can, but also know I'm out in the world, trying to distract myself the best I can. I really want to be engaged more in the nail blogger world, but sometimes I just don't feel cool enough. It's pretty dumb, but sometimes I feel like I lack a good online persona.

If anyone has any tips for making life happy, ways to balance blog and social and not stress, good podcasts, any input whatsoever, I'd love to hear it.

Now let's get to the nails already!!!



Say hello to my super shorties and the ugly skin around my nails. Hardly blog appropriate nails, but I wanted to share this look because it did bring me some happy!

The base of this look is Painted Polish Midnight Mischief, a great black creme one-coater. I used Painted Polish Drunk on Holo to make a fun glitter gradient.



Then I broke out my M Polish To Have and To Holo to stamp from one of my Bundle Monster Shangri-La buffet stamps. I was excited to get this polish finally, but when I did stamp with it I thought that it would be a bit more opaque. Some of the photos of it led me to believe it was just so opaque when stamping over black. To me I don't see much difference between this and my Color Club Halo Hues. Maybe I need to play more, who knows?!

So I do believe I've chatted with you all quite enough now. I hope I haven't scared you off, but it feels good to get some of this off my chest so thank you for listening and for sharing any input you have.