A Tale of Two Sallys

Good morning loves!
Today I have a kind of comparison for you. This Halloween season there have been a lot of Nightmare Before Christmas themed polishes, and I've seen several that are inspired by Sally. I picked up two of them that are really different and I wanted to show them both to you.

First up is Vivid Lacquer - Ragdoll's Soliloquy. At least I took this polish as being inspired by Sally, if it wasn't I apologize - but that's what it made me think of! This is the second Vivid Lacquer I've picked up, and I was not disappointed - it is gorgeous! It's a clear base with a fine green shimmer, green and blue glitters in hex, heart, and moon shapes.

I thought this color would look great over a light color, like an off-white, so I chose OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls (this is like my go-to off white anymore)! It would probably also look cool over black, because of that green shimmer, but then you'd lose the hearts and small black hexes. 

Now onto the pictures! I added an accent nail of Sinful Colors Pink Forever, because it looked like another color I can see in Sally's dress.

I loved this polish! I thought it was gorgeous over both the pink and the white, and that green shimmer is amazing! The smaller glitters applied easily and evenly, but the hearts and moons needed a little help with placement. I had no problems getting them out, but I did prefer to drag them around a bit just to scatter them more.
This polish retails for $9 for 15 mL, and you can still pick it up at Vivid Lacquer's Etsy shop. That link will take you directly to the polish!


Next up, I have Dollish Polish We're Simply Meant to Be. This is a gorgeous polish! I spot hexes in a chartreuse-y green, bright blue, berry purple, and tiny hexes in pale pink. This polish is inspired by Sally too, and I can totally see the inspiration, but it's completely different. Definitely need both ;]

I thought WSMTB would look great over black, so I layered 2 coats over Milani Black Swift. I added an accent nail used Wet n Wild I Red a Good Book, since it's the color of Sally's hair! :] The pink shimmer really adds something different to this polish.

As usual, I had no issues with this Dollish. No clumping, no fishing - all colors were represented equally and applied smoothly with a swipe of the brush. I've shown 2 coats here because I like better coverage, but 1 would have worked just fine. I'm not sure if/when she is planning on restocking her Halloween collection, but  you should definitely follow Dolly on Facebook for updates on restocks!


So what do you guys think? Which is your favorite Sally polish?? I'd love to know below :]

Kelly

These products were purchased by me, and the review posted above displays my honest opinions.

DV Awareness Nails

Hello lovelies,

Today I'm bringing you a post that is very near and dear to my heart. I've heard that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and also Depression Awareness month, and Pregnancy and Lost Infant Month. I'm sure there are countless more great causes to draw attention to you, but today I'm showing you guys a mani that represents another issue that is spotlighted this month - domestic violence.

I've been working at the local YWCA's domestic violence shelter for almost 5 months now, and before this job I didn't have any significant amount of experience with DV victims, my background being in mental health specifically. But in this short time working here, I've developed a huge place in my heart for these incredibly strong ladies who get up every day and work hard to keep their heads up for their families and for themselves, despite all they've been through.

Now of course I know me painting my nails won't stop women (and men) from being abused, but anything I can do to bring awareness to this serious issue and get people thinking, I'm going to do it. So, without further ado, I step off my soapbox and present: my domestic violence awareness nails!!

Since the color for domestic violence awareness is purple (something I learned this month - I always associated purple with altzheimer's) I did a full purple mani with a ribbon accent. Purple's not my favorite color, but this Nina Ultra Pro (Purple X-ing) jumped off the shelf at me a few months back, and I finally got a chance to use it! The accent nail is Essie She's Picture Perfect, and for the ribbon I used Sinful Colors Nail Art in Fun Times.

I couldn't tell you why the accent looks matte in the next photo...it's got a coat of SV over it! Must just be the lighting.

And here we have my latest casualty. Last night I was opening a box and a big chunk of my thumbnail broke off! So now it's a nub. How pretty is this polish, though!?

I hope you like my DV Awareness nails!

And don't forget, no action is too small to help out with a cause you believe in. The shelter I work at, as well as other local shelters (at least in Dayton) operate almost completely on donations. Any personal care items, hygiene items, bedding, and clothing that we have for our residents has been donated to us. If you've got a DV shelter in your area and some extra clothes lying around or old soaps or shampoos you didn't like, or sheet sets you found were too ugly to use, why not donate them? I can tell you first hand that the generosity of strangers can mean the world to these ladies. Every little bit counts.

Thank you all for looking - have a great day everyone!! <3


Kelly

Charm Your Nails: Instant Gratification and Glass Slipper

Warning: this post is a bit pic heavy!

I've got two more polishes to show you from Charm Your Nails this morning, Instant Gratification and Glass Slipper. These two are awesome!!

Instant Gratification is up first. It's a clear base with black, white purple and pink glitters in the shape of hexes, squares and bars, as well as tiny pink micro-glitters. The pink was my favorite! It added a gorgeous pink shimmer over the base colors I picked. 

Bottle shot

Macro shot in the bottle

I wanted to choose base colors that would show both the pink and purple glitters, so I layered Instant Gratification over China Glaze Elephant Walk with an accent nail of CG For Audrey. Check out that pink shimmer! It shows up better in the shaded pictures for some reason.

Close up!

In the sun

This formula applied perfectly, and I had no problems, even with the bars and bigger hexes or squares. I noticed in some of the pictures it looks like the bars are curling, but it must have been a trick of the light or something! They laid down flat, especially with a coat of SV overtop. These photos show 2 coats of Instant Gratification, but I could have definitely gotten away with one - I just like denser coverage. :]

And one more close up :]

Next up, I've got Glass Slipper - a brand new polish by Lindsay! I was so excited to try out a polish that wasn't even up on the site yet! Not sure when she plans on releasing it, but keep an eye out - this is one of my absolute favorites that she sent.
Now, I do have to say that in the bottle, I wasn't thrilled. It appears very transparent - I could see small squares and these strange little micro bars, but I wasn't sure how this polish would translate on the nail being so difficult to see.

In the macro shot, you can sort of see what I'm talking about. In the shade, those bars were NOT visible hardly at all. In the sun, you can see they picked up a yellow tint. I was so confused - what is this magic?! Haha, but anyway, I went ahead with the mani...

Put over black and BAM! Gorgeousness ensued. I cannot explain this to you, lol - I don't always understand things,but I can tell you that this polish is absolutely stunning as a glitter topper. The micro bars changed to BLUE somehow, and they absolutely POP in certain lights.

Close up

I layered 2 coats of Glass Slipper over Milani Black Swift and Wet n Wild On a Trip for the accent. I originally had this over a bunch of different colors, but I found myself gaping at the black so I re-did it all in black.

This mani looked like instant Galaxy Nails to me! It was amazing! The bars, once they turned blue, were so bright it almost looked like they were glowing - so cool :]

My favorite pic of the day - check out that glow!

So what do you guys think? Which of these two is your favorite! I'd love to know :]

And if you want to own some of your own Charm Your Nails polishes (because, who wouldn't), why not pick them up while they're on sale??

This discount will be ending soon!!!!



Lindsay has been generous enough to activate a coupon code specifically for my readers, for 15% off your order from Charm Your Nails!! Just enter the coupon code SANITY1713 when you check out to receive the discount. :]Head over to:Charm Your Nails on Etsy andCharm Your Nails on Facebook

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.

Go Pink Wednesday...on Thursday

Hey everyone!
When I was at work yesterday reading the blogs I subscribed to, I saw a bunch of posts popping up title Go Pink Wednesday. When I read through, I realized that all these bloggers had come together to post pink manis in order to raise awareness about breast cancer. I thought that was a great cause, and I wanted to join in, so I contacted Andrea at Finger Painting Fingers and she graciously explained how!

Which brings me to the nails, and the post title - Andrea said I could post a day late, and luckily I had one that I was planning to post anyway this weekend! So here it is, my first Go Pink Wednesday mani!!

I know, maybe Zoya Paloma is more of a "berry" than a pink, but I totally think it counts. I'm planning on picking up some pink China Glaze polishes this weekend since Sally's is having a sale on them, so check back to see what I come up with for next week! ;]

Anyways, I decided to try a jelly sandwich using Paloma and Ninja Polish Sticks and Stones. It was my first time trying out both of these polishes, so forgive me - I know this look has been done to death, but it's new to me!!

I used three coats of Paloma, followed by 2 coats of Sticks and Stones, followed by two more of Paloma - phew! I left the accent nail uncovered because I kind of like the look of Sticks and Stones over Paloma without the second "slice of bread" haha.

And here's a close up. I really liked this combination! Excuse the cat hair on my index, it's taken over my house haha!

And here's a close up of my accent nail - I found it was really hard to pick up on Sticks and Stones' little rainbow shimmery hexes in photos, but you can sort of see them here in the bottom half of the nail (they look like bubbles though!)

So what do you think of my first Go Pink Wednesday nails?
I've also recently been adding larger photos to the blog, and I'd love to hear your thoughts. Yay? Nay?

Before you go, I really want to encourage you head on over to Finger Painting Fingers and read Andrea's inspirational story that sparked her idea for Go Pink Wednesday. It is really a great cause to bring awareness to, and though I, thankfully, have never had breast cancer hit too close to home (my great grandmother died of it, but before I was born), I have known others affected by it and have seen the devastation it can cause. Anything us bloggers can do to raise awareness is a great thing in my book.

Thanks so much, Andrea for coming up with a way for us all to come together and show our support!

Have a great day, everyone - and check out the other ladies' Go Pink Wednesday manis!

Kelly

Fall into Autumn Challenge: Day 6 - Autumn Leaves

Good morning everyone!

Today I've got my Autumn Leaves mani for the 6th week of the Fall into Autumn Challenge. This one was really fun for me - I got to use some new polishes and try some new techniques, and overall I loved the finished product.

I actually got to break out one of the new polishes I made that's on sale at my Etsy shop (Trix & Treats Lacquers). I just opened and put a couple polishes out, so I'm going to wait until I see what polishes are successful before I fully stock them. I've also got several that are in testing phases that I plan to put up this weekend :] But this is one of the polishes I made last week, and I honestly didn't name it after this week's challenge but it fits perfectly!

So I used my Autumn Leaves franken on one nail, and of course I had to do something different on all the other nails, as always! I rarely do uniform manis anymore, and my right and left hands never match lol.

Anyway, here are my Autumn Leaves-inspired nails! :]

For the gradient on my thumb, I painted 2 coats of Pure Ice Jaguar, then on a makeup sponge, I painted Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Heat Flash, Wet n Wild I Red a Good Book, and China Glaze Mahogany Magic.
My index and pinky fingers have a base color of Pure Ice Jaguar, and I painted on leaves using a small art brush and the colors listed in the gradient, plus SH Insta-Dri Lightening.
My middle finger is meant to be a leaf pile with falling leaves that I saw on College Polished. I sponged on all the colors listed above with a corner of a makeup sponge and I dabbed on the falling leaves using an art brush - the base color is China Glaze Kalahari Kiss.
My ring finger has one coat of Trix & Treats Lacquers Autumn Leaves over Kalahari Kiss.

Here's a closer photo:

And one in the shade:

What do you think of my autumn leaves nails? Check out the other ladies in the challenge too!

Kelly

First comparison post - Orly RIP vs. KB Shimmer Jack

Hey there all!
When I held my giveaway recently, I asked what you guys would like to see more of on the blog, and while I heard a lot of suggestions, one that came up a few times was more comparison/dupe posts. I realized I have NEVER done one! And recently, I got some nail mail that made me consider it.

You all know I swatched Orly RIP as an accent in my recent post here. So I was beyond excited to pick it up. Another polish that I was super excited to receive in the mail was KB Shimmer Jack. I totally SWEAR, I did not think of each polish when I bought the other one - I don't know how, but the similarities really didn't occur to me. When I got Jack, I decided it was time to do my first comparison/dupe post!

And now for the photos! It was a terribly cloudy, rainy, dreary day today so I did my best with the lighting.

I did 2 nails with each polish - can you tell the difference??

 From far away, unless you really study each nail, these polishes are remarkably similar. I asked the boyfriend to guess which two were pairs, and he guess wrong three different times, lol.

I added a cute little pumpkin stamp to complete the mani!

I know they look similar from far away, and my boyfriend failed miserably, but I'm sure all your polish-trained eyes can see the differences by now. If not, here's a close up.

My pinky and ring finger are 2 coats of RIP and Jack over Milani Black Swift, while my middle and index finger are 3 coats of each alone. There was almost no different whether you layered these polishes over black or build them up. I personally like to do less coats of polish to save dry time, etc, so I like layering better.

The differences are pretty obvious when you look up close. RIP has the medium sized orange hexes and orangey copper micro hexes - that's it. Jack has got bigger orange hexes plus the medium sized hexes, tiny orange micro hexes that appear much brighter than RIP's in my opinion. Jack has also got little tiny micro bars in it, AND it's got black hexes and shreds. I swear they are in there - but they do kind of get lost when layered over black. You can still see them a bit more when Jack is worn alone - see the index finger (far right) to see what I mean.

And, just to clarify even MORE - here's a macro shot of each polish:

I personally think I like Jack better. The colors seem more vibrant, there are more shapes and sizes, and it just translates as more multidimensional for those reasons. But, that being said, the overall look of these polishes is VERY similar and the black jelly base was exactly the same for both of these polishes, in my opinion. 

So, overall, my stance is, you really don't need both. UNLESS, of course, you are an avid polish collector (like me) and you want them both for their somewhat subtle differences. But I personally think if you have one and not the other, there's no reason to lose sleep over it. You'd get the same overall look either way.

Orly Flash Glam FX polishes retail for (about) $7.99 - $8.99 each at your local Sally's Beauty or Ulta.

KB Shimmer retails for $8.50 each + shipping.

So, what did you all think of my first comparison post? Any feedback/suggestions?

Would you get both of these polishes, or just one? Let me know! :]

Kelly

Jindie Nails - Bite Me and Monstar

Hello everyone! Tonight I have two more incredible Jindie Nails polishes to share with you - Bite Me and Monstar.

Bite Me was the other Jindie Nails polish that immediately caught my eye - the combination or colors is so eyecatching and kind of punky in a way. Love it!

Bite Me is described as a clear base with hot orange, black, and violet matte glitters of different sizes and shapes.

I decided to layer this over several colors, because, as per usual, I'm indecisive. My thumb is 2 coats of Bite Me alone, and the rest are 2 coats of Bite Me over: index - OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, middle - Sinful Colors Savage, ring - China Glaze Elephant Walk, and pinky Wet n Wild On a Trip. I topped it all off with a coat of SV, but I probably could have used a coat of Gelous in between for smoothness.

Love this polish, I think it's perfect for Halloween! I think my favorite is over Elephant Walk, but it would look great over a lot of colors!

Last up, a close up:

Which undies are your favorite??

Next up is Monstar. There is a TON going on in this glitter bomb. It's got black, blue, green and purple glitters (shapes I picked out are hexes, bars, stars, and moons) in a clear base with tiny micro-shimmers in it. Check it out.

Again, I layered over several different colors. My thumb is 2 coats of Monstar alone, and the undies for the rest are: pinky - Sinful Colors Innocent, ring - China Glaze Elephant Walk, middle - Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Heat Flash, and index - OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. Again, a coat of Gelous would have been helpful here, but I just used SV and it smoothed out pretty well.

Sunlight

I definitely have to say that my favorite combo is Monstar with Sinful Colors Innocent. It's very monster-ish and reminds me of Halloween! As Jen mentions on the Etsy site, the big hexes didn't want to come out, but I was able to fish them out without much trouble. I had a bit more trouble finding the moons, but I was able to get a couple on my index. Other than that, I had no issues with the polish. The bars behaved, no problems with curling, and application was smooth. More pictures!

Shade

And, a macro nail shot - check out that silvery shimmer - it looks great in the sun, as you can really see above in the shade shot!

SO what do you think of these two Halloween beauties?? Let me know below!

And make sure to check out:
Jindie Nails on Etsy and 
Jindie Nails on Facebook
and pick up some gorgeous polishes of your own! They retail for only $7.75 for 15 mL.

Thanks for reading guys, goodnight!

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.