Nail Challenge Collaborative: Inspired by a Book #2 (Hunger Games)

Hey guys! Today I'm back with my second look for the Nail Challenge Collaborative for this month. As I mentioned yesterday, this month's theme is Inspired by a Book. 

I chose another series for today's look - Hunger Games! When I first started out blogging, I tried making sets of nails inspired by the districts but I haven't really revisited since then, so I was excited to draw on the districts for inspiration again. I looked through what the various districts' specialties were (it's been a while since I read the books!) and ultimately settled on District 1, District 2, District 4 and District 11 because when I reread the list, these ones had images that popped into my head for nail art. 

District 1 specializes in luxury items, and are considered to be the wealthiest district. To me, this brought to mind extravagance, diamonds, gems, etc. So I started with a silver base of Zoya Trixie, added a topcoat of Gelous, and stuck some iridescent rhinestones in while that was still wet.
District 2 is known for masonry, which I immediately pictured bricks. I had never attempted a brick nail, but this was harder than I thought! I started with a base of an unnamed oxblood Covergirl polish and then I sponged Zoya Cheryl overtop. I used a Stripe Rite brush in white to create the lines in the bricks.
District 4's speciality is fishing/sea life, This of course, brought to mind fish, water, and mermaids haha. I started with Zoya Giovanna and then sponged Zoya Zuza overtop, then I stamped some scales using Zoya Trixie. Unfortunately, the shimmer/sparkle in Zuza made it so the scales were nearly invisible in photos. They showed up really nicely in the shade, but the photos didn't really come out in that low of light.
Lastly, District 11 is in charge of agriculture. I like this district a lot because of Rue, and the old man in the crowd. The feels. :[ I used a mushroomy colored base - it was an OPI that I can't quite remember the name of. I know it was Suzi something! Then I stamped a tree/leaf looking thing using Mentality Bandit. I felt like it looked agricultural haha :)

I thought this look was really fun! I love the variety of designs, but I felt like they still mesh well together. Here's a shot with flash. :)

And, I've included a macro shot of my District 1 nail because this was my favorite one! I loved how the rhinestones changed colors in different lighting. Even though this nail wasn't very practical, it lasted a lot longer than I thought it would. I even made it through sleeping without losing a single rhinestone!

Overall I really loved how this came out. It's kind of eclectic but I like that about it. Plus, it made me really excited to see the next movie. Come on, payday! :)
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this look! And don't forget to check out what everyone else has created for this weeks' mani - see the links below.

Thanks for reading
<3 Kelly

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Challenge Collaborative: Inspired by a Book (Harry Potter)

Hi everyone! I've been so busy with work lately, and when I come home I've been too tired and lazy for nail art haha. But, I'm coming in at the end of the month with my 4 looks for this month's Nail Challenge Collaborative theme - Inspired by a Book!

My first look is inspired by Harry Potter. I've wanted to do a look showing the Harry Potter house colors forever, and this was the perfect opportunity. I didn't want to do anything super fancy, just a simple, cute design showing the house colors!

I really liked this look! I had always thought I would be in Ravenclaw because I'm a dork and I love reading and learning. But, I recently took a test just for fun and found out I would be a Hufflepuff! I was shocked - I have been living a lie since 6th grade! Haha, too bad I hate yellow. I actually liked the look of the Slytherin nail best here. Those colors are so pretty together. This mani reminds me of wrapping paper - that was unintentional! I'm fully against making Christmas a thing before its time. It drives me nuts when Christmas music and ads start in early November. :p

I'll make a list of the polishes I used because it will just be easier.
Gold - Essie Good As Gold
Red - Zoya Posh
Black - Sinful Black on Black
Yellow - Sally Hansen Lightening
Bronze - Mentality Sparkplug
Blue - Sinful Midnight Blue
Silver - Zoya Trixie
Green - Zoya Veruschka
HK Girl topcoat

This was a really fun look to create! Striping tape always gives such clean, fun designs that are so simple to do. Plus, people are always asking how you get your lines so crisp, it's an ego booster haha! Be sure to check out what everyone else has done for Week 1 of Inspired by a Book month!

Thanks for reading <3
Kelly

An InLinkz Link-up

Jindie Nails: Flowers in the Attic and Paper Flowers

*Press sample*

Hey guys! Hope you're having a great start to your week - today is supposed to be my day off, but I've got a mandatory training for work - boo! :[ But, it's only a few hours so after that, I plan to spend some time relaxing :)

Today I've got swatches of two gorgeous upcoming polishes from Jindie Nails to share with you. I don't have a ton of details to share about this collection yet, but I do know Jen is working on it to release soon. You guys will be the first to know once I have the details! :)

The first polish I have to share is called Flowers in the Attic. I think we've all seen the movie(s) and read the book, so creepy! I remember being really freaked out by the book when I was just a kid. The polish is considerably less creepy ;)

Flowers in the Attic has a lovely crelly base in a unique shade of blurple. I can honestly say I don't have any other polishes with this color base! It's full of dots and hexes in various sizes and colors. I used 2 coats plus topcoat for these photos.

 
This polish is extremely pigmented, yet I experienced no staining - which is saying something for a blue-toned shade. They can often be stainers, but not this one! The dots gave me no trouble, I pushed them around a bit using the brush that comes with the bottle, just to put them where I wanted them, but they didn't clump together too much. Formula overall was great :)

Next up is Paper Flowers - I fell in love with this one as soon as I saw it in the bottle! If there was such a thing as Indie Nail Polish awards, Jen would be the undefeated white crelly queen!

This is a white crelly base full of tons of multi-sized bright neon dots. I love this! It has so much depth. I've used three coats of Paper Flowers here with no undies. 1 coat of topcoat smoothed everything out.

Polishes packed so full of glitters like this can be a pain, but I didn't have much trouble with the formula - however, I did need three coats, but only because my nails are so stained. Most people can get away with 2, especially if your nails are shorter. The dots didn't clump together too badly, but again, I did do some dragging using the polish brush to just place some of the larger dots where I wanted them. This is such a fun shade - reminds me of birthday parties and celebrations!

I had to get a macro of this one - the dots are so fun and bright!

Be sure to check out the Jindie Nails shop and follow Jindie Nails on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for information on upcoming release dates and new polishes! That's the best way to find out more about when this collection will be released - if these two are any indication of the rest of the collection, I can't wait to see them!!

Thanks for reading!
<3 Kelly

The products in this post were provided to me in exchange for my review. This review reflects my full and honest opinions of these products. Please see my Disclosure Statement for more information.

Spellbound Nails: Unholy Holo

Happy Monday everyone! I have a long day ahead of me with work and meetings today, so I'm just hoping it goes quickly. :[

Today I have a fun swatch post for you. This is a stunning thermal from Spellbound Nails that was released last fall - Unholy Holo! So what could make this even better than just being a thermal, and a holo? It's scented! This one smells like apple cinnamon, and it still smells great even after I've had it for a year! :)

I've started off by showing you Unholy Holo in its warm state, which is a light green apple shade with a lovely holographic sparkle.

Next up, Unholy Holo in its cold state is a lovely caramel-y orange color - I love it like this! I had to go outside in my car to get my entire nail to be cold enough to show. Luckily I had a cold fall day when I wore this so you can appreciate this beauty in all of its stages. :)

And, of course, the best of all - thermals in their transitional state are the coolest! It is like a built in french mani with none of the work. The tips of the nails that are not attached to my finger show the "cold" state, and the nail beds stay in the "warm" state. I love how you can have an effortless mani that looks like you worked hard on it. ;) People are always fascinated by this too, so you can get some positive attention at work or school if you just run your hands under some water haha! :)

This lovely thermal along with one other were my first ever experiences with Spellbound Nails, and I was definitely impressed! This polish really reminds me of caramel apples, which just screams fall and I love that. It looks just like a granny smith apple dipped in caramel, and then with the apple cinnamon scent on top of that? It's enough to make you hungry after wearing this all day! :)

What do you think of this polish? Have you tried any polishes from Spellbound Nails? If you like this one, right NOW is the time to try it! It's on sale currently for only $7! Go go go!

Thanks for reading,
<3 Kelly

Nail Art Society: Something Borrowed kit

*Press sample*

Hi everyone!

I kinda debated how or if I was even going to post this one, but I ultimately decided that I loved the nail art too much to just delete it!

You may have seen my previous posts mentioning that I was involved with a monthly sub group called Nail Art Society. Well, a few months ago, the company ceased to exist...and I honestly don't have any more information than that, I just know there is no more Nail Art Society. I sincerely hope they come back some day, I've received some great kits from them and think they had a lot of potential.

Anyway, this was the last kit I received from Nail Art Society, and I just loved the look I created so much I had to share it! This was the Something Blue kit. It was an appropriately timed kit somehow, because I received it the month I got engaged! :) Here's the little insert that was included in the box.

This is how the box looked before I unwrapped everything. The packaging was really cute!

And here's everything that was included. This was a really great kit - it included tons of goodies. First up is the nail polish from this month's kit - a gorgeous Jessica shade called Boyz n Berry.

A set of nail strips from the Creme shop:

A Sally Hansen nail art pen in White:

A pair of tiny nail art or crafting scissors (these are great for cutting up nail strips or striping tape!):

A pair of silver decorative rings:

And probably my favorite items, some nail art accessories including a gorgeous shield and two pretty white bows:

And here's the look I created! I tried to incorporate all the items included in the kit, but I ended up not using the nail art pen. I had enough going on in this mani, and I thought if I tried to add more, it might look too busy.

I started with a base of Boyz n Berry on all the nails and used HK Girl topcoat. I stuck the two bows and the nail shield on while the topcoat was still wet. Then, I trimmed the nail strip a bit to fit my nail and stuck it on top once the topcoat was dry. The shields are self-adhesive, so they don't need wet topcoat to be able to stick. I did notice that I had some trouble getting the strip to lay completely flat due to the rhinestones in it. It just made the decal want to stick up in places, but it wasn't too noticeable in person. My nail beds have a high arch - if yours aren't quite so high, you likely would have less trouble with it.

Given the theme of the box, I had to take just one shot with my engagement ring in it! I definitely get the feel of the box as being bridal and elegant, I loved that! This mani really made me fall in love with nail shields too, this one is so gorgeous. I have been drooling over so many at Daily Charme, I need to just place an order next time I've got some extra cash. Which may be a while lol. But I just love the elegant look of a nail shield as an accent if you're looking for a mani for a night out or a formal event. Not very practical though, it could fall off, although it held on pretty well for me when I pressed it into HK Girl. If you use a thinner topcoat, you may have more trouble with accessories like this falling off easily. There's always nail glue, but I try to avoid using it if I can. :)

Overall, I absolutely adored this look! This kit was so great, it included so many great accessories and they all worked perfectly together. I think this might have been one of my favorite NAS kits ever. I was so sad to learn that they were closing, but as I said, I do hope they'll return someday!

Thanks for reading! 

<3 Kelly

I was provided with this kit in exchange for a full and honest review. I was a Nail Art Society Renowned Artist, but that in no way affected my review of these products. For more information please see my Disclosure Statement.

ILNP: Don't Trample My Roses (Old formula)

Hi everyone, hope your week is going great so far! I have today and tomorrow off, so I'm excited to catch up on some sleep and relaxing with some Netflix. Also, we have a mini photoshoot with our photographer so I'm excited for that. :D

Today I have another swatch post for you. A (long) while back, I Love Nail Polish had a massive clearance sale when they changed their formula. They felt the old formula smelled bad, so they changed it and all the old stock was marked down to half off! I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try ILNP for the first time, and I bought a bunch of pretty glitters.
This one is called Don't Trample My Roses.

I layered two sparse coats of Don't Trample My Roses over Sally Hansen Greige Gardens. Glitter payoff would have been fine with one thick coat, but I opted to scrape some glitter back in for each coat so I could mess around with placement a bit more. 

The base does have a strong smell, which is a bit unpleasant, but not the worst I've ever smelled. It wears off after a few hours and especially if you top it off with a thick topcoat like Seche Vite, which is what I used. I see why they wanted to switch, though. If you have a sensitive nose, this smell might bother you. But I just love the colors and I thought this was such a pretty and feminine combination!

Maybe it's because of the name, but this glitter mix reminds me of Sleeping Beauty. Love it!

What do you think of this mani? Did you buy any polishes from ILNP when they were switching formulas? Which ones did you get - I'd love to hear!

Thanks for looking!
<3 Kelly

Cadillacquer: It's In Here With Us

Hey everyone! I've got a quick swatch post for you today that I'm a little late in sharing! As soon as I saw swatches of Cadillacquer It's In Here With Us, I knew I had to have it. Even though money was tight, I ended up caving and buying it on Llarowe because I couldn't live without it. :)

So, check it out!

It's In Here With Us is described as a bright orange crelly with forest green metallic glitter. It is the perfect Halloween polish, but I think it can work for fall too...at least I am making it so! :) This polish is inspired by the movie Evil Dead, well I think it is...because the name of the polish is a quote from the movie! It's one of those awesomely bad 80's horror movies. If you haven't seen it yet, you need to!

I used 3 coats here with topcoat. The formula was great! This was also my first Cadillacquer, so I was excited to try it out - it did not disappoint! For a polish that on the surface seems so simple, it really shows a lot of depth because of the crelly base, and such a perfect formula too. No dragging, bald spots, great coverage, and no staining! I'm impressed :)

I highly recommend this one for any Halloween freaks like me, or anyone who enjoys fall colors! To me, it looks like what you'd get if you put a pumpkin in a blender lol. :)

Did you pick up this polish this season? I'd love to hear your thoughts on it below! Or, did you get any others from Cadillacquer's Halloween collex? I had to limit myself to one but they all looked lovely!

Thanks for reading!
<3 Kelly

Not Polish Related! Review: Influenster ClearProof VoxBox

*Press sample*

Hey guys, happy Friday! I've got a review to share with you today. I'm going to be fully up front and honest - this is not going to be a pretty post. I debated how I wanted to handle this, and with some advice from a few bloggers that I really respect, I decided to bring you this post! But, don't say I didn't warn you - you are all about to see me at my WORST, haha! Please be gentle with your comments! :/

I was really excited when I got the notification that I would able to test the Influenster ClearProof VoxBox. I've gotten some really awesome boxes through Influenster! I've had a lot of trouble with my skin, especially over the last year. I think a combination of just getting older and a lot of stress with work, wedding planning, money stuff has really taken a toll on my skin! So, I was definitely really optimistic to try this ClearProof line from Mary Kay.

The ClearProof set includes 4 parts: 1)a cleansing gel, 2)a toner, 3)an acne treatment gel, or spot treatment, and 4)a moisturizer. 

The box came with a little insert from Mary Kay with some more information about the products and how to use them.

I've included a couple of "Before" photos here. I didn't take any formal before photos, because I wasn't sure which day I was going to start the ClearProof regimen. These next two photos were taken on Tuesday, the day before I first tried ClearProof. So this gives you a bit of an idea what my skin looked like to start. In these two photos, I am wearing eye makeup (eyeliner, eyeshadow, mascara, and a touch of coverup under my eyes) but I don't wear any foundation or coverup on the rest of my face. In other words, aside from my eyes, this is my face sans makeup.

The following night, Wednesday, I tried ClearProof for the first time. I followed the instructions included with the products to a T. I used all four products in the proper order. I chose to try these products before bed because I wasn't sure how my skin would react. I have really sensitive skin, and I didn't want to take a chance on my skin being all irritated right before I had to go to work.

So, I used the cleansing gel as directed, and when that dried, I put a few drops of the toner on a cotton ball and gently rubbed that over my entire face. It felt kind of burny, but in a good way, and it has a really good, clean, minty smell. When I used the toner, I really felt like I was getting rid of the impurities! After the toner, my skin felt a bit tight, but in a good way. It just felt clean like I had taken a layer of dirt off or something. I used the spot treatment on a few problem areas, like the one on my forehead you'll see below, and once that dried, I applied a thin layer of moisturizer over my entire face. I really felt great after this first use of the regimen. My face felt cleaner than it had in a long time, I felt like I was really getting to the source of the dirt and oil on my skin. I went to bed and the next morning before work (Thursday), I just used my regular sensitive skin cleanser and moisturizer and went about my day. I did notice that my skin felt a little itchy, but it gets that way sometimes. That night, I did the same exact thing with the ClearProof set, to a T. I used all four products right before bed.

Sigh...now comes the fun part. These next photos were taken as I was getting ready for the work the next morning (Friday). I hadn't washed my face yet that morning, this is how I looked when I woke up and got moving around. These are probably the most unflattering photos of me ever taken...but I wanted to be fully honest with my readers about how this product affected me. 

As you can see, my face was extremely blotchy and red. What you CAN'T see (or maybe you can!), is how incredibly uncomfortable I felt. My skin felt like it was on fire. It was so itchy and irritated, and felt almost like it had been burned, like a chemical burn. (And yes, in case you were wondering - I WAS still in my bathrobe lol).

I usually bum around for a bit in the mornings before I get my shower, wash my face, put makeup on and head to work. This day, I was so uncomfortable that I got in the shower first thing (after these photos), used my usual sensitive skin cleanser and then moisturizer. It helped a bit, but my skin continued to itch throughout that day and night, and I noticed that a few of the blotches remain. My skin was so overly sensitive and almost raw feeling, that if I even lightly touched a spot on my skin, it would begin itching like crazy and a big red blotch would form. I had to try to avoid touching my face as much as possible the entire day and night. I didn't use the ClearProof again after that. My skin was so irritated, I didn't want to risk it.

This next one was taken as I was getting dressed for work, after I had used my usual cleanser and moisturizer. You can see that the blotching had subsided a bit, but it was still very visible and seriously itchy.

So, there you have it! This product might be really great for some people, but unfortunately, if you have sensitive skin like I do - I'd pass on this one if I were you. It's a bit too harsh. I also have combination skin - I could be peeling and oily at the same time sometimes, so with sensitive skin on top of that, I'm a tough sell! Even still, I was disappointed. I should have known better than to think something like this might work for someone with skin as sensitive as mine, but I couldn't help hoping! But, even though this product didn't work for me, I'm still a big fan of Influenster and I hope that the next box will be more of a win for me. :)

Did any of you receive this VoxBox? I'd love to hear how it worked differently for someone else!

Thanks for reading!
<3 Kelly

These products were provided to me in exchange for my honest review and opinions. This in no way affects my review of the products. The preceding review reflects my true and honest thoughts regarding the products. For more information, please see my Disclosure Statement. 

Stamped Vines with Mentality Polish

Hey everyone! I hope you're having a wonderful week. I'm up to my eyeballs in wedding planning, I feel like it's all I think about anymore. It's been stressful, but it will all be worth it in the end I hope. I thought I'd take a little break to work on some blogging and take my mind off all this stress!

This one is from a while back when I still had my almond nails. I kind of miss them sometimes. My nails grow so much longer in this shape - maybe I should go back once my nubs grow out! I recently had a huge break in my index finger on my swatching hand and had to cut WAY down.

For this mani, I stared with a base of a taupey/grey - sorry I can't remember exactly which! I think it might be a OPI Suzi Takes the Wheel, but if it's not, it's something really similar! :)

From there, I stamped using Mentality Bandit and also used Mentality Blithe for a falling glitter gradient as an accent. I used Seche Vite topcoat to finish off the look. I loved this look!

Bandit is great for stamping - the images transfer really well. I noticed this is true for a lot of Mentality polishes - they are really pigmented so stamping is a breeze. :) Blithe is a really gorgeous mix of emerald and silver microglitters that would look great over a variety of undies but can also be built up to opacity by itself as well.

What did you think of this look? I thought these two Mentality shades provided the perfect colors to add a pretty, leafy look to this gray base. I'd love to hear your thoughts below! <3

Thanks for reading!
Kelly