Orly Miss Conduct

Hey guys! Quick swatch post for you tonight. I've been meaning to post this one for a while but it got lost in my drafts! 

Check out Orly Miss Conduct :)

I fell in LOVE with this polish the moment it jumped on my nails! The micro holographic glitters were stunning in the sun, much more so in person. My camera had a hard time capturing this one's true beauty. :) The following swatches show just 2 easy coats with HK Girl overtop.

Orly Miss Conduct

Blurred and in shade to show the holo

Orly Miss Conduct

Orly Miss Conduct bottle shot

Outside in direct sunlight

Outside in direct sunlight

Check out the thumb! Holo goodness <3

What do you think of Miss Conduct?? Did you pick up any of Orly's holiday polishes??? I'd love to hear below!


Kelly

Pretty and Polished - Everybody Loves Penguin

Hey loves! Today I've got a real stunner to show you :) I was lucky enough to get to try one of the Pretty & Polished holiday polishes a while back and I FINALLY got around to swatching it! I picked Everybody Loves Penguin, because I knew I didn't have anything quite like it in my collection.

Everybody Loves Penguin is a white crelly base with hexes in small yellow, medium black, and large black. 

Pretty & Polished Everybody Loves Penguin

Label shot

Macro in the bottle - isn't it unique?

I swatched this one on a swatch wheel and noticed it was pretty buildable, but I wanted to try both layering it  and painting it on its own. For the swatches below, my thumb and ring finger are 3 coats of ELP alone, and the other fingers are 2 coats layered over Milani White on the Spot. I topped it off with 1 coat of SV and good to go! :)

Pretty & Polished Everybody Loves Penguin

Pretty & Polished Everybody Loves Penguin

The shot below is of my thumb - 3 coats of ELP on it's own with 1 coat of SV overtop.

Macro on the nail

Pretty & Polished Everybody Loves Penguin

Pretty & Polished Everybody Loves Penguin

Formula on this was great. I think I prefer it layered over a white creme, both to conserve polish and to add just a touch brighter base color, but you almost can't tell apart the nails I layered and the ones I didn't, so it's preference really. The biggest hexes didn't fight me as much as I thought they would, but hand placing them is best just because of their size. I had no problems getting them out of the bottle, though. And the corners of the biggest hexes don't lay completely flat with 1 coat of SV, so I'd recommend a coat of Gelous and then SV or HK Girl. Overall I LOVED the look of this polish, and was super impressed with it. It's totally unique! My first experience with Pretty & Polished was definitely a great one!

Be sure to check out:

Pretty & Polished website
Pretty & Polished on Etsy
Pretty & Polished on Facebook


What do you think of this polish? Do you own any Pretty & Polished nail polishes?
I'd love to hear your thoughts below! <3

Kelly

This polish was purchased by me. I am not being compensated in any way for this post. This review is a statement of my honest opinion of these products, based on experience. For further information, please see my Disclosure Statement.

Fall into Autumn Challenge: Day 13 - Fall Flair

Guys, I've finally got my LAST post for the FiA Challenge!!! Which means, that I'm finally caught up - well, at least until Saturday when the Let it Snow Challenge starts lol. I'm going to try to stay on top of this one better, I swear! :)

Anyway, for Fall Flair, I wasn't sure what to do. I wanted something to match my Turkey Day nails (since that was my other hand) but I don't have any great fall-ish stamps. Then, I realized  I had just gotten the perfect glitter topper for Fall Flair - Glimmer by Erica's Season's Change! :D

Fall Flair Nails

Fall Flair Nails - close up

Fall Flair Nails

SO what do you guys think of my Fall Flair? I'm a firm believer that a bit of sparkle is perfect for every occasion :) And I thought Season's Change was the perfect end to a great Fall Challenge! It's like sprinkles on a cake. Here's the rest of the ladies' nails for the last week.



Check back soon for my first Let it Snow post on Saturday! :)


Kelly

China Glaze Pure Joy - Quick swatch post

Hey there everybody - Happy Monday! I hope you are all recovered from a long weekend of eating, shopping and relaxing...at least that's what I did! I've just got a quick post for today of some swatches I did a while back. 

I fell in love with China Glaze Pure Joy as soon as I saw it, so I knew it needed to be mine. Just a head's up, there is an Orly that looks just like this that also came out for the holidays this year. It's called Devil May Care. I looked at both of them at Sally's, and they were so identical that I really couldn't justify buying them both, even for the purposes of a dupe post. Sorry - I AM a poor grad student after all!

China Glaze - Pure Joy bottle shot

This beauty is packed full of red and gold glitters - so Christmasy! I decided I wanted to layer it after doing one coat on a swatch wheel and seeing how opaque it was. The following photos are 2 generous coats of Pure Joy. I used glue basecoat for easy removal, and topped with OTD. It was still really textured after topcoat, so I would have used HK Girl or SV if I did this mani again. The formula was perfect, it applied super smoothly and evenly even with being so full of glitter. I definitely recommend picking up this one - it's stunning!

China Glaze Pure Joy

China Glaze Pure Joy - close up

China Glaze Pure Joy

That's all for today! Do you like Pure Joy? If you have both, how does this polish compare to Orly's Devil May Care? I'd love to hear your thoughts below! :D


Kelly

Catching Up: Fall into Autumn Challenge: Day 12 - Harvest

Hey everybody! I'm desperately trying to catch up with the Fall into Autumn Challenge before the winter one starts! Here is my interpretation of a "harvest" mani - my Thanksgiving nails!

I was SO sick the whole week before Thanksgiving, so even getting these done was a struggle, but I managed to do them the night before because my fever finally broke. 

I used China Glaze Kalahari Kiss as a base color, and various striping brushes for the feathers. The turkey's body is CG Mahogany Magic. The gorgeous glitter on my thumb is Glimmer By Erica's Spicy Pumpkin. Love that polish!!!

Harvest Nails

A little blurry - oops!

Harvest Nails

Thanks for looking everyone! Check back soon for my Fall Flair post ;)

<3

Kelly

Born Pretty Store Review: Hot Pink Matte Nail Polish

Hey guys! A while back I was contacted by Daisy from Born Pretty Store about doing a review for them, which I was super excited about!!! I decided this was a great time to try out their matte nail polish I'd been eyeing! They had a lot of awesome colors to offer, but I'm a sucker for a bright pink, so that's what I chose to try out. The link for the polish itself is here.

This is a full size nail polish, and it comes in a pretty frosted-looking bottle with the brand name BK. Here's the bottle shot. Pretty, right? :)

Some general comments before the photos. The polish itself did have a rather strong smell. Not Kleancolor strong, but stronger than most polishes I own. It wasn't enough to be a problem for me, though. The formula of this polish was good and I didn't have any problems at all with application. It does go on fairly sheer, so I found three coats to be necessary for full opacity. I also want to note that I used the "sandwich" method like I always do with matte polishes, mostly because I can't live without my regular topcoat (Seche Vite or HK Girl). My manis just don't last otherwise, and I find I get dents and smudges no matter how long I let the polish dry. In case you haven't heard about it, the sandwich method is when you paint on your matte polish (1-2 coats depending on opacity), then a layer of your favorite topcoat, THEN a final layer of the matte polish. That way you get the look of the matte polish as well as a protective layer of TC to prolong the mani and avoid dents! :)

Now, onto the photos! 

Here are a couple close-ups. You can see that even with the sandwich method I ended up with a couple dents in the middle finger. That's expected for all matte polishes, though, in my experience so far. That's why I love SV! :)

The finish of this polish was definitely matte, but I thought it had an extra bit of something, because it looked soft as well as flat. I noticed a big difference, too, in the look of the polish in indirect vs direct sunlight. Check out the next two pictures to see what I mean.

Indirect sunlight

Direct sunlight

Can you see it? In the sun, there's a sort of blurpleish shimmer that shows up! It was much more apparent in real life. It made the polish so much more interesting than your typical matte.

This polish retails for $4.36 with FREE SHIPPING (I just love that about Born Pretty Store) so you really can't beat the price. Overall, I thought the quality of the polish was great, and I would definitely buy more polishes from this line. I had no issues with formula, and it looks gorgeous on.

What do you think of this polish? Have you tried nail polish from Born Pretty Store? I'd love to hear your thoughts below!

Oh, and before I forget - Daisy was generous enough to provide me with an awesome coupon code for 10% off your purchase!! Make sure you use it if you're doing any holiday shopping on their site!!!

Thanks so much for reading everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday! <3

Kelly

A  sample of these products was provided for review. I am not being compensated in any way for this post. This review is a statement of my honest opinion of these products, based on experience. For further information, please see my Disclosure Statement.

Daily Lacquer: Usagi

Hey lovelies! Today I have a post for you that is LONG overdue! I've been so backed up on posts, these photos have been just patiently waiting to be posted for a couple weeks. My wonderful friend Maggy has a relatively new brand of polishes out that are simply stunning. You may also know her as The Daily Lacquerista - she's got a fabulous nail blog which you can find here. She's part of an EPIC giveaway at the moment. Plus, her Etsy shop is now open and she's been bringing in tons of business, and I am super proud of her!!! I've got several of her polishes to show you and today I've got the first one - Usagi.

This polish is from the Lovely Moon Collection, which you can pick up here. Usagi is a clear base with blue hexes, red squares, gold bars and hexes, white hearts and silver moons! First up are the bottle shots. First of all, let me say I messed up the label on this polish :( I was adding a bit of thinner to the polish, and a couple of drips fell on the label and smudged it :( Just wanted to say that was all me! Look how cute the bottle is (other than my "oops")!

Daily Lacquer - Usagi

Each uniquely shaped bottle comes with an adorable little bow! What a nice touch :D

The label on the bottom - how cute are these!?

Macro shot in the bottle...DROOL!!!

I chose to layer this polish over black because I thought the colors of glitter would really pop over a dark base. This is one coat of Usagi over Wet n Wild Black Creme. I did dab on the big shapes because I found that the first time I did this mani and tried to just brush swipe them on, I either got none, or like a million lol! I preferred to place them on my own. :)

Daily Lacquer Usagi

 Please ignore the bubbles UGH! I painted on the Seche Vite while the Gelous was not dry yet and bubbles happened. :( I was losing light and didn't have time to redo the mani!

Daily Lacquer - Usagi

Daily Lacquer Usagi

Daily Lacquer Usagi

What do you guys think of Usagi?? Have you picked up any of Maggy's polishes yet? She's got an AMAZING Holo-Day collection out right now that you won't want to miss out on! Here's some helpful links :)

The Daily Lacquerista (nail blog)
Daily Lacquer on Etsy
Daily Lacquer on Facebook


Thanks for looking you guys - Happy Sunday! <3


Kelly

The Bell Jar Nails

Hi everyone! Trying to get caught up here. I've got lots of posts backlogged that I just need to sit down, edit and share. Here is the first of many.

A week or so ago, I submitted an entry to a nail art contest on Reddit. I've liked doing these from time to time to push myself to think outside the box. I really ended up liking this contest, because the idea was to create a mani inspired by literature. I LOVE reading, and I knew as soon as I read the contest which book I wanted to do: The Bell Jar.

The book (my inspiration)

This book has gotten me through a lot. I feel like reading it while I was in high school while I was going through a really tough time and fighting with depression, is actually what got me through it. Sylvia Plath is my favorite writer - I just love her unique style and at the time, I felt like she somehow put into words exactly what I was dealing with. 

Now onto the nails! If you've read the book, you might remember this quote; it's fairly well known.

"I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am."

That quote was the inspiration for the nails. I also attempted to recreate a butterfly stuck under a bell jar, since that trapped feeling is how she described her depression - hence the name of the book! :)

The Bell Jar inspired nails - left hand

The base color for most of the nails is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Wet Cement and the accent nail is SH Insta-Dri in Presto Pink. I did the lettering using Wet n Wild Black Lace Creme and a toothpick. The stamps are from Bundle Monster (not sure of the exact plate at the moment, sorry!) and I used SH Insta-Dri in Silver Sweep to stamp the accent butterfly. Topped with HK Girl.

The Bell Jar inspired nails - left hand

One of the rules for the contest was that both hands had to be done. I knew I couldn't recreate the lettering on the other hand, so I just kept up the color scheme and did some butterfly stamping. :)

The Bell Jar inspired nails - right hand

The Bell Jar inspired nails - right thumb

The Bell Jar inspired nails - right hand

So what do you all think of my Bell Jar nails? Can you see where I drew inspiration from? What are your favorite books to read? I'd love to hear about them! :D


<3
Kelly

Review: Mentality Nail Polish - Euphoria & Rapture (Pic heavy)

Hey guys! Today I've got a new to me indie brand called Mentality Nail Polish to show off! I found these polishes a few weeks ago and HAD to try out these two gorgeous holos. I also got a mini set of the "metallics" collection that I will be showing you guys soon.

 

I picked up two of the holos because money is tight, but the other colors look great too. The first one is called Euphoria - a light gold holographic polish. A GOLD holo! The formula was perfect! 2 coats would probably be sufficient but I did three to be safe. I used HK Girl topcoat and it did NOT take away from the holo!

Euphoria bottle shot :)

Euphoria

Euphoria angled

Euphoria in direct sunlight

Euphoria

Euphoria

Euphoria in direct sunlight

Euphoria

Euphoria

Next up is Rapture. This one was my favorite! This one is described as "a sparkling coppery red holographic polish." I love warm colors anyway, so I figured this one would be an instant favorite but the holo was SO strong and the formula was perfect. I was happy on all counts. :)

Rapture

Rapture blurred to show the holo

Rapture

Rapture

Rapture

Rapture

Rapture

What do you guys think of these two?? Do you own any Mentality polishes? I'd love to hear about them! :)

And check out Mentality on:
Etsy
Big Cartel
Facebook


<3
Kelly