NYE Matching Manis!

I'm in a few facebook groups for nail polish and just recently saw a gorgeous ruffian style glitter mani done by Christine. I wanted to try it, so I asked her how to do it. She not only told me how but offered to do matching NYE manis!

I jumped at the chance and I'm so thankful she was willing to teach me! We used facebook messenger and it was so much fun!!
She suggested a gold glitter / purple combo so we checked our stash and found that we had a couple of Zoyas that were pretty similar. Today, the fun began! We messaged back and forth as we prepped with base coat, wrapping tips and then it went quiet while we did the base colors. Serious Business!




Pretty similar colors yeah? :D

Christine taught me to wrap the tips before ya paint! It works so much better that way! She also taught me how to dab on the glitter for the ruffian portion of the mani. We used Lynnderella Golden Rules and it is such a gorgeous holo bomb of glitter! It looks like jewels, so sparkly and pretty! Just lookatit!!




Christine's nails are so super perfectly shaped and her clean up skills -- MAD!! I say!
Christine has an instagram account at christinehk - go follow! She has gorgeous manis and a beautiful set of wheels!!


A lot of firsts were had here for me:
1. My first matching mani
2. My first time to do a mani real time online!
3. My first in the ruffian style!
4. My first friend in the fb group! :)

Thank you so much Christine!! :D I enjoyed every minute of it! These photos are for you. Thanks so much!

Pic Spam!

*Some are PR Samples

I've been changing polish almost every day for December and since Christmas is right around the corner I thought I would leave you with some spammage. :) I am going to take a short break from blogging during the holidays, so this post is extra long and full of photos!

Shall we begin?

Urban Lacquer is quickly becoming one of my very favorite indie polish shops. Her polishes are unique and very consistent in formula with easy application, her customer service is top notch and the packaging is always beautiful and well thought out. If those are not enough reasons, how about how generous she is?

“...all proceeds will benefit Brianna Chase, a young girl who is battling Leukemia. When Brianna and I were discussing the polish's color, she requested orange, with pink and gold glitter, so I got right to work to create the perfect polish for her. The polish's name is "Brilieve" - her mom has a Facebook page dedicated to Brianna, and the page's name is "We Brilieve in Bri", and when Brianna asked if the polish could be named "Brilieve", I absolutely said YES! This is a beautiful polish for a beautiful girl, and will be up for sale this Wednesday evening (Dec 19) at 8pm, CST. Each polish is $10 each, and I will have 25 available for purchase, so make sure to order early before they sell out! Here is some fine print:

--The proceeds from the sale of this polish have been set up as a "gift" to the Chase family; meaning, Urban Lacquer, LLC will issue the proceeds ($250) to the family in the form of a check, but it will not be tax deductible, as this fundraiser is not working through a non-profit organization (in the interest of being able to gift the money to the family ASAP, and in the full amount, as these organizations usually take a percentage of the donations). Please keep this in mind when ordering, as the purchase of this polish is not tax-deductible.

--Urban Lacquer, LLC will cover all Etsy/Paypal/Direct Checkout fees, to ensure the family receives the full $250 from the sale of these 25 polishes."

(PR Sample) I wore two coats of Brilieve over Sinful Colors Cloud 9 and its absolutely stunning, don't ya think?


I added some big holo hex from Berry's Creations for an accent nail! (PR Sample)
Bri has her own Youtube Channel and Facebook page, go visit and follow! :)




(PR Sample) Shirtless on 6th St. is two coats worn over Loreal Tea and Crumpets. I just love the glitter combo of blue and orange in this one! I also love it when indie makers include stories of how they were inspired to make the polish.

“I was inspired to make this polish after listening to a cousin tell me about his college shenanigans at the University of Texas in Austin, back in the 1980's. When he would go out partying on 6th St (a popular area in Austin with many bars and clubs), he told me he would wear Spandex pants, no shirt, glitter on his chest, a bow tie, and on top of all this - his hair was permed. I was DYING when he was telling me this story - it was such a visual! I just *had* to make a polish, in his honor. :-)

(PR Sample) Ab Initio, or "from the beginning" in Latin, is two coats worn over WnW Buffy the Violet Slayer. Ab was Brenda's first jelly polish and she did a great job! Its such a pretty shade of purple, and on its own can easily be layered to reach opacity.



(PR Sample) Drill Down was worn as two coats on its own and let me tell ya this one is a morpher! The color depends on the lighting, I have seen it look purple, burgundy, and even brown! The perfect polish for the office and a night out!

All of Urban Lacquer's polishes are easy to apply, have plenty of glitter and are quite unique in my opinion. :)



Next, I layered Lacquistry's Coal for Wine-ers over Drill Down, I think they're perfect together, don't you?



I've had my eye on a certain Nerd Lacquer for at least six months and have yet to find it at a price I'm willing to pay. A friend of mine knew I had been drooling over it, and so she found this near dupe and sent it to me as a Christmas gift. I'm absolutely in love with this polish from Pound of Glitter (which is also discontinued) and so happy she sent it to me!



Loreal High Tide - woosh! Can you hear the sounds of the ocean? I can!



A friend of mine gifted Corset and Fishnets to me but when I put it on I noticed it looked quite different from Glitzology's shop photo. I loved it anyway, but I let Stacy know about it because if it were my product, I would want to know too. Stacy explained to me that this was actually a prototype and must have gotten mixed in with her other polishes. She apologized profusely, sent a replacement to me and told me to choose another bottle of polish to go with it. I was pretty shocked at this amazing customer service and I even get to keep the prototype!




(PR Sample) Dust Bunnies is a pretty gunmetal glitterbomb! I wore two coats and didn't want to remove it!






Magic Fairy Stars is a Hurricane Sandy charity polish that I was lucky enough to order. Its absolutely stunning! I wore one coat over Revlon Powder Puff. Speaking of which, I finally swatched it!



Isn't it gorgeous? Its my go to white for just about anything that I layer over white. It has a purple sheen to it that is more or less hidden, its easy to apply and does not streak at all. Every other white polish I have tried has been a streaky goopy mess, but not Powder Puff!
I've used half a bottle and have one back-up. Its been discontinued but I'm still seeing it at Big Lots in those two packs and another blogger spotted it at Ross in their multipacks. If you don't have this one, seek it out!


I recently saw a sale at LynB Designs and pounced on this beautiful shade of grey. Its called Eloquent Dust and its the only medium shade of grey I've been able to find. Most of what I have seen is too dark or too light, this one is just perfect! It also has silvery shimmer, kind of hidden and subtle - sophisticated! It applied easily though I think I will add a few drops of thinner for next time as it was a little on the thick side.

Eloquent Dust made for the perfect undies to Polish Revolution's Zombie Christmas.


A grey jelly packed with green, red, silver and black glitters.

Its quite squishy looking, just like a zombie at Christmas!

Squish!


Look at all the pretty glitter!


Merry Christmas and Happy New year!

Sparkles by Julie: Coco Sugah!

PR Sample

So, I've been on a Panda pinning spree over at Pinterest. I just love pandas, its my dream to get to see one in person someday. :) -wistful sigh while daydreaming-

Hm? Oh yes! I have some special swatches for you today from Sparkles by Julie. She sent two free polishes of my choosing and since Water Lily is very popular, I picked two others. :P

First is Coco, a rich brown shimmer base packed with gold and holo glitters.

The polish was mostly opaque in one coat, but I used two for this photo. It has such depth and just look at that chocolicious shimmah in there! What could be better than this?

Oh! Perhaps a few Sugah! "marshmallows" to top off my Coco?

Sugah! is a white glitter polish just packed full of dazzling iridescent and holo sparkles of different sizes. Just look at all the green reflections from the glitter. Its like a magical fairy fire to roast the marshmallows on before topping my mug of hot cocoa!

For an entirely different look, I tried Sugah! on top of Alphubel from Elevation Polish and I love how it turned out!

A bit of wintery Norwegian "snow" to go with my hot "coco"! And see those same iridescent and holo sparkles? They're reflecting turquoise and purple now!

Here's a bit of a closer look with some blurring to help show off the coloring of the tiny glitters.


My favorite of the two is Sugah! Its so flexible - the possibilities are endless with it - over red it could be candy canes or perhaps a lace doily under a red heart for Valentines. You could totally do red and blue stripes for July 4th and layer this over the top to add the white and the "fireworks". How about navy blue for a starry night effect? Over black for a spooky bones Halloween effect? The possibilities are endless with this one!

You can get yours at the Sparkles by Julie Etsy shop. Right now she is running a daily special for one polish at 50% off, so check for those!

Taste the Rainbow!?

Good morning! Today's post is a rainbow of colors, with a little something extra at the end. Sometimes I will wear a polish a day before covering it with glitter, and I don't always post those photos. I've been accumulating them and thought I'd post them all together linked with the glitter post for reference. Enjoy!

The first three were worn with Monster Polish's Bomb polishes.

Sinful Colors Cloud 9 under Firebomb


Wet N Wild Black Creme under Holobomb


Wet N Wild Fergie Miami Spirit under Aquabomb


China Glaze Frosty worn under Different Dimension Sparkles Like Edward


LA Colors Wired worn underneath Whimsical Ideas by Pam Moon Over Miami



Sinful Colors Bleeding Heart underneath Different Dimension I'll Wait Up For You Dear


Pure Ice Femme Fatale (top coat on accent) underneath Different Dimension Santa Baby


LA Colors Magnetic Force underneath RHobby SoCal Sunset


Love and Beauty Royal underneath RHobby Waterfall


Naturistics Celebrity underneath Vivid Lacquer Your Princess is in Another Castle

I also recently met up with Kristin, whom I met online a little over a year ago. Our meet up was at Cheesecake Factory. We both brought polish with us that the other didn't own, so we could see some rares in person that we may not see otherwise. It was an awesome visit, I got to meet her two super sweet kiddos, and our server was the best. We took a few photos but this one includes both of our stuff, her polishes and my nail wheels, so I thought I'd share it!

You can see we were both swatching each other's polish as well! My tape and notebook at the back of the table, and hers there in the front left corner. ;)

I hope you've enjoyed this entry!

Rhobby: Waterfall and So Cal Sunset

I received a couple of free polishes recently from Rhobby Cosmetics to do a review on. When I opened the package and saw the colors I immediately thought of fire and ice - pretty neat combo! Rachel has also offered my readers a discount, read on!

First is Waterfall which Rachel describes as "a breath-taking mix of matte blue, purple and teal glitter, holographic glitter all in a stunning blue base."

The holo glitters in this blend are so bright and firey! The base has a blue shimmer and is very sheer so I wore this over one coat of Love & Beauty Royal.


Next is So Cal Sunset, I couldn't find a description for this one at her Etsy shop, but it seems to be made along the same theme as Waterfall. The polish has a pink shimmery base that is sheer and the hex glitters include red, yellow and dark orange and silver squares. Perfect colors for a sunset! :)

I wore one coat over LA Colors Magnetic Force for this photo.

The polish was easy to apply using the dab method and one coat gives a nice sprinkling of glitters. Rachel has a variety of colorful glitter polishes available. You can get yours at the Rhobby Cosmetics Etsy shop. Be sure to use the code xoxoJen15 for 15% off your order now through Sunday 12/9 at Midnight CST.

Thank you Vivid Lacquer!

PR Sample

Seeing the above image might be disappointing to some, but not anymore! Vivid Lacquer has given that sad message a new meaning, a really pretty one!

I recently ordered a stamping plate (ee! playtime in my future!) and Anni offered to send a blog sample of polish to me for review. I said sure! But I had no idea which polish she would be sending - it was a surprise. I stalked my mailbox for the package and ripped it open as soon as it arrived! I was so happy to see the little bottle of pinkish purplish sparkly goodness! And what's this? Black hexes too!? And teensy holographic shimmers?! Awesome!



I wore one coat of Your Princess is in Another Castle over one coat of Naturistics Celebrity, which I've had at least since Mario launched if not before. I think they pair perfectly together! The glittery polish could also be worn over purple, hot pink, or even black. The glitter is so dense that I think the black hexes would still show over a black base. Application was smooth as silk.

A big thank you to Anni for sending the sample polish to me! I look forward to working with you on upcoming collections!

She has a lot of game themed polishes which are all very pretty. Get your sparkly goodness at the Vivid Lacquer Etsy Shop!