HPB Presents: Holiday Manis

Press Samples and bought items

What is Jen up to with this mess of nail supplies?




She's doing a special mani for the Hobby Polish Bloggers' holiday link up!

Hobby Polish Bloggers is a group of nail bloggers on Facebook. We're a diverse group who help each other discover new ways of getting the blogging done, sharing feedback when asked, and growing our friendships inside and outside the group. Each and every lady in our group is special and supportive of each other and we each contribute in different ways.

The theme for December is Holiday manicures. I've created some nail art to share some of my holiday memories!

The first nail reminds me of the snowstorm a few years ago on Christmas Eve when Jason and I ended up spending the night at my mom's because there was so much snow, we couldn't even back out of the driveway.

The second nail is Santa's suit which reminds me of Christmas's past when my grandpa would dress up in the Santa suit my grandma made for him. He'd hand out presents to my sister and I every Christmas.

The third and fourth nails are a Christmas tree and a gift, which are always a part of our holidays - past, present and future.






I hope you've enjoyed my nail art and have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday!

An InLinkz Link-up

KBShimmer Launches Men are from Mars-ala

Press Release

Celebrate the New Year and Pantone’s 2015 Color of the Year with KBShimmer! “Men are from Mars-ala” is an earthy, red-brown shade that will make a fresh new addition to any neutral nail palette. Worn outdoors or in bright light, Men are from Mars-ala features a linear holographic and when indoors, this shade is rich and warm – just like a glass of Marsala wine should be!

Men are from Mars-ala’s luxurious formula applies like a dream and dries to a shiny, holographic finish. Wear it with a matte top coat for an ultra-modern look or a high-shine one for something a little more classic. Just make sure you don’t get caught without this year’s Color of the Year!

Men are from Mars-ala launches January 1st, 2015 will be available on www.KBShimmer.com for $8.75

Sweet Heart Polish: Hang Ten

Press Sample

How about some neon glitter to go with that previous purple I was wearing?

This is Hang Ten from Sweet Heart Polish. This matte glitter topper was part of the summer collection, and is now retired. I love purple, but I also love lime and turquoise with it, so this just had to be done! I wore two coats of the glitter topper and had no issues. What's on the nail is how it all landed with one brush dip each time I applied some. Such a pretty topper and I love the tiny bars and hearts in it!






You can find other beautiful Sweet Heart Polishes at the Etsy shop and follow the brand on facebook!

What is your favorite Sweet Heart Polish color?

Bear Pawlish: Holo Back Girl!

UNF!





That is all.

(two coats and topcoat used for images and yes, all those colors really show up in the holo flame of this polish. It's amaze, ya'll)

Bear Pawlish: Pretty Hate Machine and Vivid Lacquer stamping

I recently ordered a few Bear Pawlishes after having tried one in the Sweet Addictions October Box and loving it. The one I'm sharing today is called Pretty Hate Machine which is a shout to Nine Inch Nails. I'm a fan and I love dark polishes, especially holos. So I had to have it!

The formula was perfect in two coats, but the brush in this bottle had much shorter and stiffer bristles than the other four Bear Polishes that I have and it was challenging for me to keep a clean line with it around the cuticle area. I've sent a message to Bear Pawlish to ask about this. (see edit!) This polish stained my nails a dark black/grey color after removal, so be sure to double or triple your base coat.

Other than that, it's perfection. Dark, vampy, blue based and the holo rainbow is quite prominent for how dark the polish is.






I also did some stamping over it with my new Creative Shop stamper! I used Vivid Lacquer plate VL001 skulls design and stamped it with b.i.t.c.h. by Jaclyn's Trendsetting polish from her signature collection (Trendsetting was provided for review previously).




I hope you've enjoyed my quick review of these! What is your favorite Bear Pawlish?

EDIT: Bear Pawlish responded 12/9 and said she would send a replacement brush if I'd like. Also, after removing the polish I noticed that it's a stainer - so do double up on base coat for this one. (I use Yellow Stopper as my base coat)
Today is March 11, 2015 and I have not received a brush replacement, nor any word of when it might be sent to me.

Creative Shop and Vivid Lacquer Stamping

Press Sample and purchased items

I recently purchased a behemoth of a stamper from Creative Shop after reading a review and watching a video over at http://pcontreras8nails.blogspot.com/. If you stamp or have tried it and gotten frustrated - you NEED to know about this stamper from Creative Shop. This is the first stamper that I've not had any trouble with right out of the box. No priming and no redoing my stamps. The clear plastic scraper is amazing too. It's a little thinner and much more accurate than a gift card. It's flexible and kind of hugs the plate leaving the perfect amount of polish down in the design.
I did the very first test stamp on paper and then did all my nails and every single stamp was perfect on the first try.

I got everything in this photo for $16.50 shipped. You can order in a facebook group for shipping to the USA.



For the first test stamp I used Black Cream from Wet N Wild.



For this look, I used a base color of Cupcake Polish Yule Be Missing Me stamped with MDU 49, the Creative Shop stamper and Vivid Lacquer Plate VL006 Snowflake pattern.




Vivid Lacquer is having a big sale right now too, prices are already marked down at her shop.

What is your favorite plate or stamper?

(MDU polish and Creative Shop items were purchased by me, the others were sent for review)

Literary Lacquers: Gloss48 Exclusive duo

Press Sample

Literary Lacquers has teamed up with Gloss48 to offer another exclusive set!
I purchased the first duo that launched and had a good experience with G48. The new duo is a beautiful pair inspired by the Wuthering Heights book.


Catherine is a rustic red/violet holo with microglitter, and gunmetal flakies that shimmer and sparkle and a strong linear rainbow flame






Heathcliff is a dark denim blue colored strong linear holo packed with blue mircoglitter and gunmetal flakies that shimmer and sparkle.





The formula on both was effortless, I used topcoat to ensure a smooth to the touch feel.

The duo is launching on 12/3-12/10 at 11am Central and will be on sale for 20% off, along with all the other duos in the Gloss48 shop.
Which is your favorite duo? Have you shopped with G48?

Cupcake Polish: Holiday 2014

Press Sample

Cupcake Polish has a very vivid Holiday 2014 collection and I'm excited to share them all with you! This collection has three holographic polishes, and three glitter polishes. The formulas on each were very nice in that they're all easy to apply and control where the polish lands on the nail. I had very little clean up with these and I wore two coats of each with topcoat.




Yule Be Missing Me is a crazy vibrant grapey purple with a super strong linear holographic effect. The holo rainbow has a very strong blue flame in the middle which makes this polish really pop! My favorite of this collection and maybe my favorite purple holo ever. :)






Look Who's Stocking Now is a linear holographic turquoise polish.






Just Sleighing Around is a blue or cool leaning red holographic polish.






Menorah-ty Opinion is a blue linear holo packed with blue and gold micro glitters and gold flakies.






Ornamentary My Dear is a gold microglitter packed with gold glitter, gold flakies, and linear holographic pigment. In some lighting, you can see a linear rainbow on top of the glitter.






Deck The Malls is a green microglitter polish with glitters in green, holographic green, and black.





This collection launches December 1st at 6pm CST at the Cupcake Polish online store.

I enjoyed wearing each of these but Yule Be Missing Me is staying on my nails for a long while! It's such a stunning shade of purple! I don't think I have any other holo like it in my stash. My photos just don't do it justice. If you like purple holos you won't want to miss this one!

Which are your favorites?

b.i.t.c.h. by jaclyn: Signature Collection

Press Sample

b.i.t.c.h. by jaclyn is launching her Signature Collection on December 1 at 8:00pm Central time. The collection consists of five polishes and I'll be sharing them in a specific order. See if you can figure out why and I'll reveal the answer at the end of this post!

Bold is a purple to blue duochrome with subtle holographic sparkle.






Intelligent is a metallic denim blue shade with subtle holographic sparkle.






Trendsetting is a silver chrome holo with an almost mirror-like finish. This one is very reflective so I was not able to catch the holo pigment except in the dark area of the macro shot, but it's there and it's beautiful!






Chic is a hot pink, glass flecked, holo. Quite a stunner! I wore two coats with topcoat but one heavy coat would also work well.






Haute is the star of this collection with it's super dark black base and linear holographic pigment. Take a look!






Each of these polishes can be worn in one coat, Chic will need a heavier coat than others or perhaps two coats. Each polish's formula was smooth and easy to use, although I did find Bold to be a little on the thick side so if you prefer a thinner polish just add a few drops of polish thinner to that one.

Did you make a guess as to why these polishes are shown in a certain order? The first letter of each word spells out the brand name. Nifty, eh!? Jac is also launching special packaging with this collection. Take a look!




You can snag your set of Signature Collection polishes and others on December 1 at 8:00pm Central time at http://www.bitchbyjaclyn.com/.