ORLY Nail Rescue: Rescue Me Please!

Hello all! It's been over a week! Oui! Between classes, being VP of 2 clubs, and 80 of Education fieldwork, I've been busy busy! And as you may know, I got a tear in my pointer nail. I thought polish was going to be a no no. Then I found this awesomeness!

Here was my savior! All I had to do was brush on some of the nail glue (which is an irritant, so don't get too much on your cuticles!), dip it in the white sparkly powder (ooooo), and then lightly buff the nail once it was dry. Easy peasy!

Not a bad deal right? Into the powder the nail goes! And your nail is then ROCK SOLID! It's kinda like having artificial nails a bit. Getting it off required about 20 minutes of soaking/scrubbing though, so that's the only rough stuff. 

So as you can see, my nail is totally fine (gritty with powder but fine) after about 2 weeks now. This stuff is so awesome! And with base coat/polish everything is great. This kit is a life saver, and I suggest you give it a whirl! It gave my nail much more stability than the tea bag method!

Lit From Within: A Guest Post

Evening all! I know it's late, but I had 6 hours of club leadership training today! I'm on an eboard for 2 clubs in my college, so it was worth it at least! Since I haven't had time to do my nail rescue post today, here's a guest post from Nidia at Lit From Within!

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Hi!  No need to panic, or adjust your monitors - Alex's nails didn't all break off!  Ok, ONE of her nails broke off, so I'm filling in to give her a chance to whip that hand back into shape.  I'm Nidia, and I run a little blog called Lit From Within.  Have you heard the buzz about I Love Nail Polish's new mega-ultra-multichromes?  They are pretty fantastic, and I have two to show you today:  Birefringence, and Cygnus Loop.

Cygnus Loop (named for a supernova remnant in the Cygnus constellation) has a more purple base, and is on my thumb, middle, and pinky fingers.  Birefringence (also a real thing, by the way) is a teal-based multichrome, and is on my pointer and ring fingers. I love doing nail art, and was inspired by these 'Peacock Nails' by Beauty by Suzi.  You can find her tutorial by following the link.  I decided to leave one of each color plain, so I have a thumb accent of Cygnus Loop, and a ring accent of Birefringence.  Then, I applied a layer of black over the other nails, leaving an edge of the undies.

Then, I painted over the black (again, leaving an edge) with the opposite color.  Looking pretty cool, I think... but I'm not done yet!

One more layer of black, and then back to the original color for that nail.  This was so cool when I would move my nails around and the colors would shift.  There are violets and reds and blues and purples in both of the polishes, but not at the same angles. Very psychedelic!

Here's the bottle shot:  ILNP Cygnus Loop, Birefringence, and OPI Black Onyx.

I've seen some pix that suggest that these two are close cousins, if not dupes, to Enchanted Polish's Across the Universe and Octopus' Garden, when used with a holo topcoat, too!  Are you a fan of multichrome polishes? If you'd like to see more from me, please head over to my Facebook page, Twitter, or follow my blog! Thanks to Alex for letting me share my nail art with you today!

Try the Untrieds: Picture Polish Swatch Spam

Happy Tuesday glittery polish lovers! I recently did a group order of Picture Polish from Australia, and might I say, I got some of the best pretties they had! On to the swatches :D

Ohhhhhh yeahhhh. This was one of my BIGGEST lemmings. I've wanted it since...I started blogging? This is 1, yes 1, coat of Cosmos, a dark royal blue polish with tons of scattered holo. Just...yes! It's thick but workable, and this makes it an easy one coater!

Here's another pretty. This is 3 coats of Shy Violet, a new collaboration shade that is chock full of scattered holo shards. Yup. Shards. LOVE IT. It's supposed to dry matte, but that didn't really happen for me. It's color varies from a dark purple in some lights, to a nice medium purple here...

....to a super special awesome electric neon violet purple with awesome holo flkie shards here! Mmm!

Last, but not least, is an old favorite...Poor Glitter Ball. Twas my first PP and I swapped it out in October. I missed it so....you can see my elation over it on my old nails HERE. Finally, it is mine once more, and I'm never letting it go! This polish is chock full of holographic sparkles and hexes in a clear base. Ahhhhhhh. I missed it so....

Never again shall me and my precious part! It's smooth! It's got great coverage! And it's got glitter in it. Yup. This is a winner for years to come :)

You can buy Picture Polish from their Australia site here:https://www.picturepolish.com.au/ or from Llarowe's US site here: http://www.llarowe.com/

Lynnderella Remember 2013 Guest Post

Hey everyone! Check out my post about Lynnderella Remember 2013 over at Polished and Glittered today!

http://www.polishedandglittered.com/2013/08/guest-post-alex-from-glittery-and.html

A Waterfall Fail with Zoya Fall Pixies

Afternoon glittery polish lovers! Now in case you've forgotten, my giveaway ends August 26 at midnight EST, so go enter here. Now onto the tad bit of a nail art fail here. 

Now the waterfall mani has been making its rounds, so I thought I'd try with my uber glittery Zoya pixie dusts! Mistake number 1. I also thought I'd be able to do it with a nail art brush that wasn't about an inch long. Mistake number 2.  I used Ginessa for the base and pixies in Sunshine, Carter, and Tomoko for the waterfall.

So what have we learned? One, let your base color dry completely before trying this. Two, use a longer brush. Seriously. The short brush made this impossible to get long, tapered  clean lines. And three, don't use textured polishes for this! Didn't work like I thought. I have a better brush and plan on reattempting this soon! 

Try the Untrieds: Lynnderella Talismans and Birthstones

Hello glittery polish lovers! For this edition of Try the Untrieds, I have 2 Lynnderella Birthstones polishes to share with you! I got Diamond Light (April) and Sapphire Starfire (September).

First up is 2 coats of Sapphire Starfire over 2 coats of Zoya Storm. OMG. While this is not my fave of the 2, it is still freaking awesome! There's an assortment of blue glitters in here, be they holo dark blue hexes, holo stars, a flower, a heart, or more! And there's a blue shimmery clear base. MMMMMM! This embodies a sapphire perfectly. My only issue was slight curling on the large holo blue hexes, though this may be solved by pushing them down a bit next time.

Now for my new favorite Lynnderella, under a new light of mine! :D This is 1 coat of Diamond Light with a bit of placement over 2 coats of Picture Polish Denim. Wooooooahhhhh. Dot glitter. Good coverage. Holo. YES! There are pale pink and holo silver dots, holo silver diamonds, and blue diamonds, along with some rainbow dust in the clear base. Just pure beauty for April's diamond!

And as you can see on the pinky of my terribly painted right hand, I got a large hot pink dot. I got one on that thumb too. Man this polish is awesome! While Lynnderellas are more on the expensive side, it is worth it to get one in a swap or sale every 2 months or so! :)

Get Lynnderellas from new and past collections at the ebay store here: http://lynnderella.com/

Ipsy August 2013 Glam Bag: Glamour Academy

Afternoon glittery polish lovers! It's time for a review of the items I got in my August Ipsy bag! The theme was Glamour Academy. While I love making my nails look their best, these items were there to make the rest of you look great too!

I love this month's cosmetic bag so much more than the one from last month! It's purple! GAH! I received a sample of Pixi Beauty Lash Booster Mascara in Blackest Black ($7.29).  I don't wear mascara, so this hasn't been touched. However, I love the Noya Vanilla lip balm ($3.99). It smells like fresh baked vanilla cupcakes, is Kosher, all natural, and felt great!

Next up is City Color Cheek Stain in Pink ($2.99). I have it just rubbed on on the left, and blended in on the right. It's light, but more makes it a bit darker. I rarely use blush, but this would be great for a quick touch up during concerts!

Now we have Pacifica Alight Multi-Mineral BB Cream ($5.33). It's a bit dark on my hand, but it worked great on my cheek! It's got some color and slight shimmer to it. Again, not something I'd use normally, but for concerts or a night out, why not? 

Finally there's Michael Todd True Organics Jojoba Charcoal Scrub ($5.40). This I like! It's got an earthy scent. I used it on my face one night after my shower. It's not too gritty, and I rinsed my face after rubbing it all over for about 1-2 minutes. It left my face feeling fresh, clean, and a little bit tight. Surprisingly though, it didn't make my face red or break out! Mary Kay scrubs have done that to me. This one's a keeper! 

***Grand Total of My Bag: About $25***

***Cost of My Bag: $10***

While this bag was not as great as months past, it still had some things I'll use. There's always a slight flop sometimes! If you like any of these items, go get an Ipsy bag for $10 a month here: http://www.ipsy.com/?refer=u-hh12bk9wpncf1cj8

Try the Untrieds: Lucky 13 Lacquer Swatches!

Evening glittery polish lovers! Tonight, I have some Lucky 13 Lacquers from the Hylian Hero Collection for my Try the Untrieds Tuesday! Let's get this glittery night started!

First up is a generous coat of Epona's Song over 2 coats of SquareHue Scortched Summer. With the brown and green hex glitters, I'm reminded of Link and his trusty steed, Epona. I can almost hear him playing the notes to make her gallop towards him....

Then we have 2 thinner coats of Requiem of Spirit over 3 coats of SquareHue Bikini Beach. With the gold and orange hex glitters, I am reminded of the desert where the Spirit Temple is. These polishes really make me think about Ocarina of Time and Zelda in general, and their great formulas make me extra happy!

Though this collection is currently retired, you can get Lucky 13 Lacquere here for $8.50 for a full size: http://www.lucky13lacquer.com/products

A Glittery 1000 FB Likes Giveaway!

THANK YOU SO MUCH LOYAL READERS AND FANS!

MY FB PAGE HAS 1000 LIKES!

And we must commemorate such an event with a giveaway! Now I've got some things over the last few weeks in anticipation of this, and let me tell you, these prize packs are my best yet! Gotta thank my fans, you know? Now let's see what we got!

PRIZE #1

This looks familiar XD I loved the China Glaze Ombre set in Wave Runner, so I managed to snag another! Plus, I threw in a Julep DIY nail polish ring cause...I want to see an ombre ring! Do it!

PRIZE #2

Here's a prize to make you look and feel good! You'll receive some of Sunny's cuticle oil in Lollipops, Philosophy Peppermint Bark shower gel, a Lush Creamy Candy bubble bar, and a 1.7oz beach spray for your hair!

PRIZE #3

So I've accumulated quite a few doubles of these OPI Liquid Sands. How? I know not. However, I picked some of my faves for you guys! You get 3 from the Bond Girls Collection and the one from the Minnie Mouse collection :)

PRIZE #4

What is that? Another China Glaze Magnetix set? With magnet? You bet! I thought it was pretty nifty, so now one of you lucky fans will get it! You get 6 polishes and a magnet with 3 different designs.

Okay! So Rules. This contest is open to US and Canada. Must be 18 or older. After 48 hours, if winners do not respond, a new winner will be chosen. ENDS AUGUST 26 AT MIDNIGHT EST!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sunny's Sugar Hand Scrubs

Evening all! I've had some GREAT sugar scrubs for the past few weeks, and now I can share them with you! I got them from Sunny at 365 Days of Color, and they are awesome!

I got the scrubs in the scents Pink Sugar and Fairy Dust. It's only $6 and you get 3 different 1oz scents! And she has over 170 scents! Boom! And as you can see, they've got all kinds of good stuff like shea butter and coconut oil. Mmmmmm!

Here is Pink Sugar, a looser, darker brown sugar scrub. By the usage, you can tell I use it a lot! Sunny describes it as an 'extraordinarily sweet blend of fruit, vanilla and caramelized sugar.' I agree with that. It' just so sweet! And the scent of this one stays true once it's rubbed into your hands. Mmmmm!

Here is Fairy Dust, a harder, lighter golden scrub. I haven't used this one as much because of the scent. Sunny describes it as a 'sweet blend of pomegranate, citrus, berry and musk are sweetened with vanilla and sugar crystals to create this new delightfully luscious scent.' Now while in the container it smells more like black currant to me, on my hands it's more musky, and I don't like that scent. 

Now each set of scrubs come with a handy little scooper! I use as much as I show in the picture, put it on my wet hands in the shower, scrub it all into my nails/cuticles (it makes them soooooo soft!), and then rinse with a pat dry. In short, I LOVE THESE SCRUBS. Fairy Dust is just not my scent, but there's over 170 to choose from!

Get these yummy sugar scrubs 3/$6 here: http://www.365daysofcolorpolishes.com/products/1399300-sunnys-sugar-hand-scrub-samplers

Try the Untrieds: China Glaze Swatch Spam

Happy Try the Untrieds Tuesday glittery polish lovers! One day my posts will start being out more when the sun is in the sky XD So this Tuesday I decided to go through some untried China Glazes for you. LET US BEGIN!

Here are 3 coats of Blue Iguana, a sheer shimmery polish with light blue glass flecks. I think this may be close to a Julep and Sally Hansen I have in my stash. Comparison post! :D Anywho, while pretty, I didn't get any of that purply pink color shift going on in the bottle on my nails. Still a nice, easy blue to work with. 

Here are 2 coats of icky. I mean...Winter Holly. Bleh. I picked it up cause of the nice glitter I saw in it and the fact that it was on clearance at Sally's. It's so blah. It's fine glitter in a clear base. It looks like forest green and dirt. The gold doesn't even help. Off to the swap pile! 

Ahhhhh. A lovely glitter bomb. Here are 3 coats of It's a Trap-eze! I used 2 coats of Seche Vite to make it perfectly smooth. I love this! Drawing on the ideas of indie makers, this is a multicolored hex glitter polish in a sheer milky white base. I'm digging it. And it wasn't too thick either! This is the polish I kept on too. Woo to trying untrieds! You never know what you'll find :)

Easy Canvas Prints

Morning lovely readers! Today I have a review of a different product here, as a way to branch out a little bit here! I'm open to all kinds of reviews! And this product, was awesome. I was contacted by Easy Canvas Prints to review one of their products for you guys! 

Look at that! I was offered a free 16 x 20 canvas! It is sooooo cool! I chose a picture of when my family got to go to Disney World when my father came back from Iraq. I wanted all of us and that castle in the picture! The canvas picture is great quality, and it looks great on the living room wall!

This picture with flash shows a bit of the canvasy texture, I suppose lol The retail price of this on the site is $67.06, which I think is pretty good. It's large, good quality, shipped to me in about 10 days, and was packed up well.  To make your canvas you pick a size, wrap thickness, if you want a frame, your picture, and border style (see my border in picture below). 

And here's something I thought was cool. As a canvas, the picture wraps around on the edges (you can choose if you do not want this), so no matter what angle you look from, you always see some of the picture! Sooooo cool! Perhaps I can get a canvas print of some awesome glittery nail polish, eh? ;)

Want to get your own Easy Canvas Print? Go to their website here: http://www.easycanvasprints.com/

THEY ARE SO GREAT WITH BLOGGERS! :D

SquareHue August 2013: Endless Summer Collection

Evening everyone! Swatching kept getting delayed because of work. Gahh. Then my SquareHue box showed up today! New swatching plans! Here's the Endless Summer Collection....

So let's begin with my least favorite, Bikini Beach. I was a nice golden creme yellow. However, it was streaky after 3 coats, and not good for my skin. However, I can see this one being used for nail art!

Next is 2 coats of Scorched Summer. This one had a great formula. Not streaky or thick! Formula was just like Patriot from the last box. It's a nice reddish brown creme. Now I feel this looks better on me than on someone with sun kissed skin, but eh. My opinion. This is a good base for glitter. 

We end with 2 coats of my favorite, Surf Gypsy, which is the glitter polish of the bunch. Woot! This is a nice dark berry color with holographic glitter scattered throughout. It's just so pretty! And it looks great with my skin :) However, I feel this is more of a fall/winter color than a summer color. While it doesn't fit the theme, it's the best in the box in color, glitter, and formula!

There you have it! While one polish wasn't very summery and 2 were not my colors, the box was still pretty nice. After all. It's like a box of chocolates...you never know what you're gonna get! And here's the preview of next month's collection!

https://www.squarehue.com/

The Grass is Always Greener on the Other Side...

Evening all! I know I promised full out holo polish awesomeness, so let's start with another lovely polish from Samantha from the Polished Mafia! See a swatch of Big Earner HERE.

Here we have 2 coats of The Grass is Always Greener with Seche Vite top coat. The linear holo is a bit more subdued than Big Earner, but it's still gorgeous! This is a light springy green with holo sparkle to boot! You get more linear holo in sunlight or flash.

There's the holo! Only issue I had was the thickness of the polish. A few bubbles on 2 nails on my  other hand, but I feel that was more user error if it only occurred on 2 nails. And it is thick, so just be sure to give it time to dry to prevent balding and dragging!

Then we have 2 coats of the newly reformulated HITS Dionisio. They are now 3-free and do not smell awful! See my post on the original from my early blogging days HERE. 

Ahhhhhh. Supreme holo goodness. The grape purple plus the rainbow holo is a must! I gave my old one away but am so glad to have this back in my life! It's as holoy as an Ozotic in the sun! So that is that. The holo isn't dulled with top coat, and it's lasted 4 days so far! Woo! What holos do you like?

Get the Polished Mafia here: http://thepolishedmafia.storenvy.com/

Get HITS here: http://shop.llarowe.com/collections/hits

Ipsy July Glam Bag: Beach Beauty

Evening glittery polish lovers! Tonight I have my July Ipsy bag for you. And I love this one better than my first I got in June! I've used all this stuff a few times :)

The bag is cute, water proof, and hot pink! Woo! I received the Sexy Hair Soy Renewal Beach Spray ($8ish), which yes, smells like beach. It made my hair a bit wavier, but nothing special.  I have not yet tried the Coola Mineral Face SPF 20 ($5.25). I'm waiting for a day at the boardwalk :)

Here is a swatch of my POP Beauty Crayon ($4.17) in Coral Crush. Love this color! It's a pinker coral that is very light, since it is more a balm than a lipstick or gloss. It lasted about 2 hours before fading.

Then I got a sample of 3 BH Cosmetics eyeshadows ($2ish) form the California Collection pallete. Left to right: Malibu (a medium shimmery gold), San Francisco (a shimmery coppery bronze), and Hollywood (a medium purple, almost lavender). These are so pretty! They are light though, so you may need a bit more for a darker color.

Finally I got a full size bottle of Nailtini polish ($13) in the color Mai Tai, a brighter orangey red coral. This is 2 coats. Formula was pretty good and dried quick! 

***Grand Total of My Bag: About $32.50***

***Cost of My Bag: $10***

You can't go wrong here! I calculated the prices based on size and price per ounce/unit/etc. You definitely want these! Get your Ipsy bag for $10/month with free shipping here: http://www.ipsy.com/?refer=u-hh12bk9wpncf1cj8