Thursday, October 31, 2013

Nail Challenge Collaborative: Happy Halloween!

Sorry for the super late post, but since Halloween is my absolute favorite day of the year, I wanted to spend it doing whatever I wanted! Mostly I just watched scary movies and played video games and enjoyed the spooky weather! :)

But, I did want to share with you a couple of Halloween nail designs I did. :)


This first one just kinda came to me when I picked up a couple of the China Glaze Halloween polishes. On my index and pinky is China Glaze Bump in the Night, and on my middle and ring is Sally Hansen Sugar Coat in Candy Corn. I topped the accent nail off with China Glaze Boo-gie Down. I loved this mani and I wore it for over a week with just minimal tip wear, like you see in the photo. I took the photos probably about day 6.


I also did a vampire-themed mani for Halloween!


The grey is OPI Skull and Glossbones, the nude is Wet n Wild Private Viewing over white, the red on my ring finger is Sinful Ruby Ruby, and on my index finger is Ruby Ruby over a dark brick red/almost brown unnamed polish I've had for years. I used my Stripe Rite striper in black for the hair and details on the vampire.


I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween! PS I'm combining two Inlinkz in the bottom of the post here - check out all the awesome Halloween nail art from the other ladies in the group!
<3 Kelly

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Jindie Nails: Fall and Halloween polishes!

I cannot tell you how excited I was to get some Jindies back in (on?) my hands! It's been a while since I've bought any! I've been doing pretty good with my no/low-buy because I know I need another Helmer and I'm trying so hard to stop myself before I run completely out of room. Weird, I know. I feel like 2 Helmers is fine but 3 is a problem lol!
Anyway, I'm going to start off today with a Jindie Nails polish that doesn't quite fit in with the post title - it's not a Fall or a Halloween polish. Jen was kind enough to send this beauty along with my order. It's a Limited Edition that releases some time this week - stay tuned to her FB for more details! World, meet Clearly Blinded! :)


Clearly Blinded features too many glitters for me to name! Jen says it's basically She Blinded Me With Science in a clear base, a request from a customer that Jen was able to bring to life! :) I see dots, diamonds, squares, translucent neon hexes, and rectangles. The translucent neon hexes remind me of Candy Land and Candy Land Remix! :)



Next up, we're getting into the polishes I have from the Fall Chic collection. First, we have What Are you Smokin' Mirrors. It's a lovely grey crelly base full of dots in gold and silver. It built up nicely in 3 thin coats. It reminds me of a full moon on Halloween night. :) 



Another beauty from the Fall Chic collex is Midnight Rainbow. I think this is one of my all-time favorite Jindies!! It's simply stunning. Midnight Rainbow is a shimmery black jelly base full of dots large and small, in every color of the rainbow! If you look closer, there are also multi-colored flakies in the base. This is 3 thin coats. I did a bit of hand-placing with the bigger dots, just using the polish brush, to spread them out evenly.



Next up we have Electric Grape. This is not a new polish (though it has been reformulated), so I'm not sure exactly which collection it goes along with, but I think it makes a fantastic base for Halloween nail art and glitter combos, so I'm just gonna leave it here. :) Electric Grape is an eye-popping neon purple jelly that dries almost semi-matte. It has a really cool finish! There's also a lovely blue shimmer to it that really comes out in the sun - you can't see it as well in my photos as you could in person, because it was overcast. :( 



Now, I mentioned Electric Grape would be great for Halloween manis? Check out this next polish, Be-Wear the Polish, using Electric Grape as undies! :)


Be-Wear the Polish is a clear based glitter topper full of glitters in greens, gray, black, and purples. There are stars, moons, dots, dashes, hexes, diamonds and squares! Such a fun polish, and I love the look of it over Electric Grape. :)


Next up are my two picks from the Halloween 2013 collex! First, we have Pink Punkin. This one has a orange sherbet-y crelly base full of pink glitters in hexes and squares.



Next is Ghosts of Candy Corn Past. I just love this name!! It's an off-white crelly base with black, orange, and yellow glitters in hexes, squares, and dots. It looks like candy corn floating around in milk! This is 3 coats alone. I would probably recommend layering this over white, because it's so packed full of glitter, it can get stuck on itself!



Last but not least - Monster's Ink! I missed the release of this one, but it is awesome so I am SO happy Jen sent it along! It's got a sort of celery-green crelly base and...another one with too many glitters to name! Stars, dots, squares, hexes, diamonds, in pink, teal, green and purple.



Which is your favorite of these? I'm torn between Midnight Rainbow and Monster's Ink! Great formulas and wonderfully unique color combinations as always! :)

Check out Jindie Nails at the following links:
Jindie Nails website
Jindie Nails on Facebook
Jindie Nails on Twitter
Jindie Nails on Instagram

Thanks for looking!
<3 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.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Nail Challenge Collaborative: Halloween #2

Hi guys! 2 posts in 2 days, I know - crazy, right?! I am really trying to get back into the swing of things, promise!
Today I have a Halloween themed mani for the NCC that just sort of popped into my head as I was creating it. I knew I wanted to use some new Sinful Colors I got, and this mani just kinda happened!


My index and pinky are 2-3 coats (can't remember!) of Sinful Colors Black Magic. This is such a pretty Halloween shade. It can be layered or built up to opacity in about 3 coats. On my other nails, I started with 2 coats of Sinful Colors Citrine, one of my all-time favorite oranges! For the tips, I used Sinful Colors as well, I want to say Amethyst? Then I used my Orly Instant Artist in black to add some diagonal lines, and a chevron on the thumb. The finishing touch was adding some square studs I got from Born Pretty Store. I just pressed them gently into a small dot of topcoat.



I'd love to hear your thoughts on this mani! My middle two fingers ended up reminding me a bit of a Pokeball haha. Totally wasn't intentional, but I don't mind it :) Thanks for looking everyone, and be sure to check out the other ladies Halloween manis!

<3 Kelly

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Whimsical Nail Polish by Pam - Wicked

 Hey everyone! Quick swatch post for you tonight. I am sorry for my unexpected hiatus- work has been kicking my butt. I don't really have a good excuse, lol - just haven't had time for editing.

Last winter, I bought my first Whimsies - among them was Wicked. I waited to try it until Halloween because I think it is just the perfect Halloween polish! Check it out :)


For these swatches, I used 2 coats of Wicked over Sally Hansen Limestone and topped with Seche Vite topcoat.



That's it for tonight! Hope you like this polish :) I LOVE the squishy jelly look of it!

<3 Kelly

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Nail Art Society: I Love Studs!

Hey everyone! This month's Nail Art Society kit features one of my favorite things in nail art - studs! This month's kit was curated by the amazingly talented Emily of Very Emily!


The monthly Nail Art Society kits retail for $11.95 per month. If you subscribe to Nail Art Society by the 15th of this month, you will receive the I Love Studs kit, which includes: a bottle of Jessica polish in Black Matte, 2mm neon orange studs, 2mm pink studs, 2mm purple studs, and 3mm gold studs. 

I used a similar polish, Jessica polish in Black Lustre (the same polish included in the kit, but shiny) and all the neon studs to create my first look. I'll be showing another look in a few days, using the matte polish and the gold studs!



These Jessica polishes are really great, almost one coaters for me! I used 2 coats to cover up any patchiness and applied Seche Vite topcoat. Then, I added the studs while topcoat was still tacky. There are many ways to pick up studs such as wax pencils, picker uppers, tweezers, or you could use my proven method - I lick the tip of my finger and touch it to the stud! I know, I'm weird - but it works. If you need more accurate placement, though, I definitely recommend the picker upper from It's So Easy - you can get it at Sally's. I chose to topcoat over the studs to make them last longer, and it worked - this mani lasted a couple days before the urge to pick off the studs was just too great and I gave in haha! Some of the color came off of my studs, too, after a couple days - but it wasn't very noticeable.


What do you think of this look?? It reminds me of the dot candy from when I was little! I'd love to hear your thoughts below! If you're interested in subscribing in Nail Art Society, you can check it out here. And don't forget to check out the other Renowned Artists' looks created with this kit. :)

<3 Kelly

Monday, October 7, 2013

Nail Art Society: Foil & Decal Kit

Happy Monday everyone! Back to work this morning - it's still only my second week at this job, so I'm still really excited about it lol! Today I have to share with you this month's Nail Art Society kit. For those of you that don't know, Nail Art Society is an awesome monthly subscription that you can get for $11.95 per month. Each month, you will receive a selection of nail polish and nail art supplies hand selected by Renowned Artists (like me!). We are truly committed to making sure customers are receiving the best value for their money, as well as nail art items that are on trend, useful and versatile. I strongly recommend checking it out! :)

This month's polish was sent by Jessica. It's a gorgeous shade from their fall collection called Cinnamon Kiss. You will also receive 2 sets of Cala nail decals, one pot of gold foil, one pot of silver foil, and 2 packages of rhinestones (not pictured).


My first thought was to try nail art looks using ONLY what came in the kit. Here's what I came up with!





The polish is a wonderfully vampy shade that's perfect for Fall. It was perfection in 2 coats - no complaints here! The decals were super simple to apply - just peel and stick. I added topcoat over them to be sure they didn't fall off, and I had no problems. The foil is a bit trickier. It's very, very fragile - it's lighter than you might think! You have to be very careful handling it or it will rip. For that reason, I think the easiest way to use it is to shred it and use it as a flaky overlay. If you are very careful, though, you can smooth it flat on top of wet topcoat. I recommend topcoating over it as well, or else it will flake off. For the last photo above, on the silver nails, I laid down the foil flat on top of wet topcoat, and then while it was still wet, I stretched it around a bit and it made a cool crackle effect. :)

I also wanted to try the two foils over some other colors of polish. This is the gold foil over Revlon Topaz.



And this is the silver foil over Sinful Shine in Slick.


So what do you think of these looks? Have you worked with foil before - any tips? Which is your favorite look created above! I'd love to hear below. <3

Don't forget, if you'd like to receive this kit, you still have until the 15th to subscribe and get this one. And, this month only - when you enter the code "Shemar" you will receive 10% off. Shemar Moore, who plays Derek Morgan on Criminal Minds, is a friend of one of our founders, and Tia has created this discount for any of his fans who sign up this month! How awesome is that?! :)

Nail Art Society website
Nail Art Society on Facebook
Nail Art Society on Twitter
Nail Art Society on Instagram

Thanks for reading!
<3 Kelly

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Guest post at Sassy Paints!

Good morning everyone! Happy Sassy Saturday!
Today I have a guest post up at Sassy Paints - head over there to check it out by clicking here! <3