Review: Polishes from Emerald & Ash - Life in Color Collection!

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Hi everyone - happy Tuesday! I have been trying to get this blog post up all day, but I am on vacation in Myrtle Beach and the wifi here is spotty at best. Plus, I've been at the beach and pool soaking up the sun! But I couldn't wait to get this review posted. 

I recently was given the opportunity to try some new polishes from Emerald & Ash. I have never tried their polishes, but I had heard about them and seen pictures, so I was SO excited. Even better when I found out that Ashley and Nate are former Daytonians, AND one of these upcoming polishes had a Something Corporate reference!! These guys are awesome.

Here is the amazing package I received in the mail. I love the branding on everything - there was a stamp on the box, and a clear branded business card. There was also a set of helpful instructions and tips about application and glitter removal, including some felt strips for taking the glitter off. 

My cat Trixie was a big fan of the eco-friendly packaging. She wanted to make sure it tasted okay before I got any further opening the package. :)

I saw three regular sized wrapped bottles and one small one...

...and I unwrapped full size bottles of Elevendy Seven, Zetus Lapetus and (!!!) Confusion with a K! Also, Ashley and Nate included a bottle of their cuticle oil in Fresh Cut Grass scent (Ingredients: Jojoba oil, grapeseed oil, meadowfoam seed oil, fractionated coconut oil, tea tree oil, vitamin A oil and vitamin E oil).

First, here is some information on the Life in Color collection, releasing July 10, 2014 at 9am MDT as a pre-sale. Here is some information from Emerald & Ash about the inspiration behind the Life in Color collection:
"The 14 polishes in Life in Color were created because we absolutely love color and sometimes the colors we wanted to make just didn’t fit into a collection. This was our chance to play and make things we’ve been thinking of for the past year, as well as allowing us to to play with different finishes we haven’t used before. Seeing as this was our chance to play with color, we decided to take this opportunity to give names to the polish that make us laugh while mixing in some that have personal meaning to us.

All of these polishes are highly pigmented, so as always we recommend a good base coat to wear with them."

These are the 14 shades being released - SO.MUCH.COLOR!!!!

First up, I have swatches of Elevendy Seven. Here is Emerald & Ash's description and inspiration for the polish:
"Growing up when I used to ask my mom about an amount of something, quite often the reply would be that we need “elevendy seven”. So maybe we needed elevendy seven of...eggs, or...dogs, or who knows what. It’s a term that stuck with me into adulthood and is a fitting name to go on a color that was my mom’s favorite (green, that is). A beautiful grass green stain crelly that is filled with yellow shimmer, rainbow flakies and a touch of holo. You might just want to pull your shoes off to run your feet through it. Due to the pigments used this polish will dry to a stain finish, if you like a glossy look add a top coat to it to make it shine. Depending on your application 2-3 coats will bring this polish to full coverage."

My camera had a hard time capturing the true color and shimmer of this polish, and an even harder time showing the flakies - I swear, they were SO obvious in person! I tried getting a bottle shot to show you what I mean.

So, I used my Yellow Stopper base coat, and then did 3 coats of Elevendy Seven over that, topping it off with Seche Vite. Without top coat, it had a really cool almost matte finish, but I prefer a glossy look, so I topped it off. For shorter nails and nails that aren't stained, 2 coats of polish would be plenty! Application was great. The first coat went on fairly sheer, but built up wonderfully with the second coat. It is very highly pigmented, so E&A recommend a base coat. I had zero staining on my nails or cuticles, though! :)

I also applied the Fresh Cut Grass (July scent of the month) cuticle oil before taking photos of all these polishes. I fell in love with it! The oil is highly moisturizing, but absorbs quickly and never feels greasy on the skin. And the scent is to die for - it just smells like summer - very clean and fresh! :)

I took one final shot, using flash this time, as an attempt to try to capture all the shimmer. This polish is really the perfect grass green but with so much more added to it. The blue and purple flakies make it truly unique, and the shimmer give it so much depth. 

Next up is Zetus Lapetus! From Emerald & Ash:

"A lipstick pink shimmer that just screams wear me! We felt that wasn’t enough so we tossed in some bright blue micro flakies and a smattering of holo. Sassy, fun and reminiscent of our favorite, always up to something, girl of the 21st century. Depending on your application 2-3 coats bring this polish to full coverage."

This polish is extremely bright and in your face - I love it! And, when I was younger, I was obsessed with the Zenon movie - the first one haha, I wasn't a fan of any that came after that. So, I was happy to see a polish inspired by the movie, and such a great summer shade too! I definitely think "sassy" was the perfect word to describe this one.

Again, I used 3 coats, but someone with shorter or less stained nails could easily get away with 2. I used Yellow Stopper base coat and Seche Vite topcoat. I applied some Fresh Cut Grass cuticle oil and rubbed in before taking photos. The shimmer in Zetus Lapetus was super strong too - and I love the holo sparkles!

I took another shot with flash to show off the micro flakies and the scattered holo. I love the bright berry colored tone of this one! :)

Last, and probably my favorite of the group - though it's hard to decide - is Confusion with a K! I could be biased because I adore the Something Corporate song that it is named after...but anyway, description and inspiration from Emerald & Ash:

"Once upon a time we found an ottoman that had beautiful bright colors and it needed to come home with us. It also needed to be made into a polish. After many trials and errors it decided to be a fun, festive glitter topper. Because it said so. And so, Confusion with a K was born. A glitter topper full of neon pink, neon green, metallic navy blue, grey and white glitters of all sizes. It wants to go on top of ALL of your polishes and maybe even be sandwiched between them as well. You’re good to go with one to two coats, depending on how glitter-hungry you are!"

First, I tried one coat of Confusion with a K over Elevendy Seven - I thought it was a great combination!

The shimmers and flakies in Elevendy Seven went great with the tiny matte microglitters in Confusion with a K. It was a nice contrast that felt really fun and eye-catching to me! In my opinion, you really don't need more than 1 coat of Confusion. I let my bottle sit upside down for about 15 minutes before applying, and I had no trouble at all getting any of the different glitters out, even the big ones.

I experienced no problems with glitters clumping, bare spots, any curling - actually, application was a breeze, especially for such a packed and diverse glitter topper. A lot of times, those big hexes can be a pain, but not this time. :) Here's a shot with flash!

For something different, I tried one coat of Confusion with a K over Zetus Lapetus. Again, the shimmers and the matte glitter contrasted in a really cool way. I wasn't sure if this combination with work, but it ended up being a really cool look for summer, in my opinion! :)

Last shot, one with flash to really show off all the different colors of glitters!

Overall, I was hugely impressed with my first Emerald & Ash experience. All three formulas were on point; I had no issues with dragging, bald spots, clumping, anything. The colored shades were highly pigmented, but I personally experienced no staining.
Again, the Life in Color collection releases on July 10th at 9am MDT as a pre-sale. In the meantime, check out the other polishes they have in stock and the other 85 scents of cuticle oil to get an idea what you want to order when Life in Color releases!! Click the links below to see the E&A shop and their different social media sites to keep up to date on new colors and releases! :)
Emerald & Ash shop
Emerald & Ash Facebook
Emerald & Ash Instagram
Emerald & Ash Twitter

Thanks for reading!
<3 Kelly

These products were provided to me in exchange for my honest review and opinion. I am not being compensated for this post. Please see my Disclosure Statement for more information.

Mermaid/Ursula Nails

Hey guys! I am so excited to finally share this mani with you! It just kinda popped in my head one day and I was really proud of it. It started out kinda just like a mermaid mani but it turned out darker and more villain-y than I intended, so it became a sort of combination Mermaid/Ursula mani!
First, here is the gradient base I started with.

For the gradient, I started with a base of Sinful Colors Black on Black, and then used a makeup sponge to dab on Zoya Julieanne, Zoya Giovanna, and Zoya Zuza. I topped it off with Seche Vite while I was deciding exactly what to do from there! :)

So I knew I wanted to do hand-placed glequins, so I did that for one of the accents. I hand placed each glequin with a toothpick pressed into a wet coat of Gelous. Then, I remembered I had the perfect glitter topper - Dollish Polish Poor, Unfortunate Souls, based on Ursula! Added another coat of SV to those two nails to seal everything in and done! :)

This mani honestly looked SO much better in person, I couldn't capture its true beauty! The flecks in the gradient, made it look so multidimensional, and I just adore these colors together. I think this is one of my all-time favorites I've ever done! :)

What do you think of this mani? Can you see the mermaid/Ursula inspiration? I'd love to hear your thoughts below!

Thanks for reading,
Kelly

Digital Nails: Dark Matter

Good evening loves! I have an amazingly stunning polish to share with you all today.
So it's no secret that I ADORE Digital Nails. And of course, Raphaelle has an extra special place in my heart now for being such an integral part of my engagement! Anyway, Dark Matter was included in the package - it was one of the pretties leading up to the big one! I would definitely say my fiancé did a wonderful job picking this one. I don't own anything even remotely like it. And it looked even better on the nail than I expected - the sparkles!

Here is a blurred shot to show the holo in the glitter - amazing! :)

So Dark Matter is a gorgeous blurple holographic microglitter that honestly cannot be adequately captured on camera. Seriously, I tried forever. Below is a photo where I used flash in an attempt to capture the beauty. By the way, these photos are of two coats of Dark Matter over Sinful Colors Amethyst.

Below is a photo in the shade. Sometimes I find that taking photos in the shade can really make the holographic glitters pop.

And one last photo for good measure!

I never wanted to take this mani off - and I got so many compliments on it! I think it will be a great toenail polish for summer time too since it's so bright and sparkly and fun. Be sure to check out Digital Nails Etsy shop for this and other gorgeous creations! I'd love to hear what you think of this one below! :)

<3 Kelly

Review: Born Pretty Store Water Decals

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Hey everyone! 

Today I have a long overdue review for you from the vault. I was contacted by Daisy of Born Pretty Store and asked to review some items from their store. One of the items I chose were these Miki Nails Water Decals in A-1-20. 

They looked like regular nail strips in the packaging, and it also said "stickers", so I wasn't sure if they weractually water decals, or just nail stickers. Looked over the instructions...

And they are water decals. You need to soak them before you can apply them. I think I prefer water decals over stickers for things like this because if you mess up putting them on, you can easily just slide them around to get the placement you want. Here's a look at the design I chose.

I did have some trouble choosing the correct sizes for my nails. There are 12 strips in a package. Usually, the size I thought would fit my nail ended up being too small, so my advice would be - look at the size you think it is and then go up one. I had no trouble getting the decals off the paper and onto the nail. I cut out each decal, soaked it for about 30 seconds and then placed it on the nail using nail art tweezers. I moved it around with a wet paper towel to get the placement where I wanted it. Then, I filed around the edges to remove excess, let it dry for a few minutes, and then added topcoat to make it last longer. 

I noticed that even with my nails being this long (this is long for me), there was a ton of excess at the end of the decal, which was nice. These would fit a great variety of nail shapes and sizes.

I do recommend using topcoat - these lasted almost a full work week for me, and I am very hard on my nails at work. However, I did notice that when I applied Seche Vite topcoat, it did pull a bit of the decal off with it right at the tip of the nail on my ring finger, so I would advise if you're going to use topcoat, apply a coat of polish that matches the design under the decals, so bare nail doesn't show through if it drags off some.

Overall, I really loved these decals and I thought they were very easy to use. They had lots of different designs to choose from on the site, and they are very affordable at $1.55! I would definitely use these again, especially now that I know that a base coat of polish will help with the topcoat pulling on the tips. I would recommend these decals to anyone looking for a complicated looking manicure that takes minimal time to complete. These probably took me all of 15 minutes to put on!

Also, if you do decide to purchase these or any other products at Born Pretty Store, be sure to use my 10% off discount code! And even better - shipping at BPS is always free! :)

Thanks for reading!
Kelly

Some of these products were provided to me in exchange for my honest review and opinion. I am not being compensated for this post. Please see my Disclosure Statement for more information.

Digital Nails: Expelliarmus

HI everyone, happy Saturday! I am doing my first ever 5k later this evening and I am SO nervous! I will probably walk most of the time, but it's better than nothing right?!

Today I wanted to share a swatch of a stunning polish - Digital Nails Expelliarmus! I thought this polish was pretty in the bottle, but once I put it on, I was completely blown away - it's beyond gorgeous!

Here is the description from Digital Nails website: 
"Expelliarmus! is a SUPER RICH royal purple jelly with a load of blue violet to magenta color shift microflakies and magenta circle glitter in two sizes, plus HUGE violet and silver holographic circle glitters."
I used three coats for these photos, but Raphaelle says that you can also layer it over a purple base - I haven't tried that yet! I actually think I might want to try it over black next. :)

I really didn't have too much trouble at all with this polish, even with the larger circles, but I did drag them around a bit using the brush to get them where I wanted them. You can kind of see one circle sticking out on the outside edge of my pinky nail, so it's not a completely straight edge, but other than that, this polish was not the troublemaker I expected when I saw ALL those dots swimming around in the bottle! :) It was a great surprise.

Overall, I was so impressed with this polish! I got so many compliments on it. It was so much brighter than I expected and even brighter than the pictures can get across. I definitely recommend this one! Make sure to head over to Digital Nails Etsy shop and check out all the other pretties Raphaelle has created! :)

Thanks for reading!
<3 Kelly

Argyle Nail Art inspired by Nail Polish Wars

Hi everyone! Today I have a nail art look I did a while back. I was looking for inspiration and so I checked out Nail Polish Wars Pinterest Board. I fell in love with her argyle look...

So I had to try it out! I didn't want to completely copy it, so I chose some different colors. :) I used Orly Decades of Dysfunction, Wet n Wild Toxic Apple, Rimmel Mintilicious, and the stitches are Sally Hansen Greige Gardens.

My lines weren't exactly perfect, and you could see the mistakes, so I went over it with my favorite mistake corrector - Fairy Dust! :)

I found that this look was harder than I thought to get crisp lines! I want to try using my nail vinyls from Teis Mom and I think I'll have a lot better success! What do you think of this look!? I'd love to hear below. And be sure to check out Nail Polish Wars if you haven't already. Her swatches and nail art are amazing! :)

<3 Kelly

Jindie Nails: Don't Get it Citrus Twisted

Hi everyone! Quick swatch post from the vault for you tonight. This is from a couple months back when I had my talons. I kinda miss them - I'm thinking of going back!

Anyway, check out Jindie Nails - Don't Get it Citrus Twisted!

This one caught my eye during one of the restocks. I think it's an older shade, not sure how I missed out on it before! It's a gorgeous bright lime green that's perfect for summer. 

Description from the Jindie Nails site: "This is a bright neon green crelly with matte opaque kelly green, pastel yellow and canary yellow dots and extra large hex, neon pink hex and opaque baby pink dots and extra large hex with gorgeous silver shimmer."

I didn't notice any hexes in my bottle, but it could be that I just didn't get any for this mani. I actually liked that I only saw dots, it reminded me of a Twister board! :)

I used three coats here with Seche Vite topcoat and the circles and other glitters were totally flat. 

My camera really doesn't do it justice, it's so much brighter in real life!

I am in love with this polish! It's such an amazing summer shade and I can't wait to wear it to the pool and to the beach! :) What do you think of it? I'd love to hear below! And, be sure to check out Jindie Nails shop for more gorgeous polishes <3

Kelly

Colores de Carol - Cocktail Dress

Hi everyone! Long time no post! I've been very busy with work, but I have tons of polishes to show you guys, so I'm slowly but surely working through the backlog. 

Today, I have a stunning and unique polish from Colores de Carole - Cocktail Dress!

I fell in love with this polish the moment I saw the BOW glitter!! Now I also feel like I need every polish ever made that includes bow glitter. I love bows on jewelry, clothes - why not polish? Plus, there is just something about this fuchsia and white color combo that is so fun and girly! Cocktail Dress has a fairly sheer white base  that can be built up to opacity, but I chose to layer over white here. Two coats of Cocktail Dress followed by HK Girl.

I had no problems whatsoever with application. I did choose to play around with placement of the bows. I just moved them around with the polish brush until they were where I wanted them. All the other glitters - what you see is how they went on.

What do you think of this polish? Do you own any polishes with bow glitters?! If so, point me in their direction! I must own them all!!

And, be sure to check out Colores de Carol's blog  for some amazing nail art/swatches, and her Big Cartel shop to see her gorgeous creations! :)

Thanks for looking!

<3 Kelly